I was going to write a full review, but I'm too lazy to think up an intro and conclusion (and this way I can just jump from point to point). First, the surface-level complaints. It feels like Anneke may finally be taking herself a little too seriously. First she leaves the band that got her started and names her new band after herself. Now she is using her name with the band name listed as an afterthought and has her face plastered on the cover (she's just not that great to look at either). Anyway, music by self-absorbed women can still be good... but this isn't.
These stripped down acoustic songs are just boring and uninspired and not even guest vocalists (including Anathema, Within Temptation and King Crimson vocalists) can help them. Anneke's voice is much better suited to a full band accompanying it, and these songs all put her weaknesses front-and-center. The lack of any compelling music combined with a weak performance from Anneke causes this album to drag very early on. To put things in perspective, this album is so bad that they managed to actually make their cover of Alanis Morisette's "Ironic" worse than the original.
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