Список групп Modern Metal Amaranthe Massive Addictive

Amaranthe is a band that I've first heard of when a friend of mine played a song for me in his phone. It didn't really catch my attention at first, but than I remember the moment downloading the Amaranthe debut and the Nexus and I am still listening to both of them at the moment, preferring Nexus a little bit over the debut, but they're both amazing.

Now about Massive Addictive - first thing that shocked me was the album title. It comes out it is a bit egoistic, because the band is ensured that the album as a whole sounds Massively Addictive and that you'll remember the whole lines and the music and the lyrics and simply overall the album will grow on you very quickly and hours after listening to it the melodies will keep playing in your head and you'll tootle them throughout those hours. Oh well...they were right at most of those songs. In overall comparison to debut and Nexus, they took a step forward and tried it different way. Surprisingly it worked! But not at the first moments...

Drop Dead Cynical was the first single released to attract to the album. I must say only this song of the album is really out of Amaranthe's basics, it lacks the normal system and is completely different of their previous works. What is worse that it doesn't work well, the new screamer suits good to the band as a whole part, but in DDC he's just completely out of song order and tunes. So this was the first and last disappointment of the album, because a week and some days later came second single to attract to the album and it's Trinity. The band mentioned that the song really has some kind of link to them and it's really important, that the Trinity is the key to feel alive, I assume they were referring to Elize, Jake and Henrik vocal trio. As of the song itself, it sounds more "Amaranthe" to me, but still wasn't what i expected of the album, however it's still dozens of times better than DDC.

The moment I saw the album released, I immediately had to get it to listen to the rest of the songs. And...just wow. They've done it again! So in the first half, the opener is Dynamite, which is about a person being pumped with energy, about to explode, goes more of a progressive kind, but definitely not in one-way, because the vocals of Elize are higher than we've ever heard before, sounds like she's really "on fire" and enjoying it the most she can. And I was also proud that the new screamer suits the style more, because it's not that harsh as the previous one was. The title song Massive Addictive gives you an immediate feeling of catchiness and blows your mind up with the riff, harder part of Olof's guitar and the alternating vocals of Elize and Jake and of course, Henrik's again in the second verse, which make more than up for the addictiveness. Digital World, although experimenting with Henrik's vocals by "digitalizing" it, has no influence on the song again, on the contrary, it suits perfectly, because the song is filled with more speed, melodic stuff and good bridge and it suits greatly for live concerts. Also, this song probably has lyrics with meaning about reality, about how we are stuck in today's technique - laptops, smartphones, consoles etc.

Second half starts True and Over and Done. These are for those, who want more of a ballad Amaranthe type and good news for those, who didn't like screaming vocals in Amaranthine - it's finally gone! Only Elize and Jake take part of these and it sounds much better, catchy as if it was of another Amaranthe that we know, but still amazing in the same way. In Danger Zone the band has obviously chosen a different way of the vocal order a bit. The verses are whole of Henrik's business, only Elize does some background there, but not really noticeable at all. At chorus directly both Elize and Jake sing. Same change of technique was chosen in Over and Done, although it's a ballad as I've noticed before, so there are no Henrik's parts, but the whole first verse with a chorus, unusually, sings Jake alone, Elize is not participated in the first part, she comes to the second one, again whole verse + chorus. After bridge and very good solo come both vocals to end the song. Skyline and Unreal are for those, who want to remember the old Amaranthe times, because those song reminds me of the debut era, the vocal style, the guitar and electronic elements presence are really suitable for debut times.

An Ordinary Abnormality is definitely the highlight of the album, because it "strikes" to the power elements, fast, heavy song influenced with energy so high that you want to sing and enjoy it and remember every of the moment. It wouldn't also be so amazing without one of the best solos I have ever heard of this band. In screamer parts, there are also mentionable marks of some kind of guest screaming vocals (or is it just me?). Overall, the bridge is probably the biggest thing in the song, because the quick change of Jake's and Elize's vocals make you think like "Were they even there?". Exhale is a no more than typical closer of the album, which is accompanied by pure piano the whole song. Almost no artificial electronic elements are present, so it makes the song more different while still awesome.

So, over that Drop Dead Cynical thing the album is a pleasant masterpiece thing and even if it's a few days of the release, I want more now, because I'm really excited how they will progress in the future. Massive Addictive is truly a massively addictive journey and as of mixing, production and mastering it's the best work that they've made so far. Definitely check on this one, because this album is most definitely one of the best releases of 2014 as for me.