Review Summary: Fallenmania, Part 13
Let’s transition back to metal-based fallenamniac albums, with an album that’s halfway between pop and metal. It’s an album with mostly ballads, but also some electro influences, by a band that would later move on to a gothic metal sound with more nu metal influences than average. I’ve reviewed Dark Princess’s second album, which is more typical of their later sound, years ago on the Metal Archives, but now it’s time to look at their strange first album.
I’ll compare the first 2 songs, to explain the album’s overall sound. “Yearning for the Sun” is a rather mellow acoustic guitar sound, adding the electric guitars on the bridge. However, “Living in Me” begins with electronic sounds and heavy riffs, while having a pop chorus similar to its predecessor. Olga Romanova has a deep, melancholic voice that will sometimes sound like a pop/folk singer, and sometimes like what I can only describe as a fallenmaniac singer.
Other songs tend to be like either like “Yearning” or like “Living”. “Lost Sunrise” has more speed, and a riff that feels, for lack of a better description, like a Linkin Park riff without electronic effects. “Let Me Go” is the same vein, with more elaborate synths and heavier riffs. It’s not the most dramatic or memorable song ever, but it’s catchy, it sounds fine and flows pretty easily, which is a good way to describe the album as a whole. Not exceptional but somewhat entertaining. Sometimes it’s fun, like “The Game”, a sort of very playful Linkin Park-influenced track with electro, a catchy riff and conversations between Olga and guest singer Viktor Kukoverov.
The ballads or acoustic tracks can also be easy on the ear, if not extraordinary. “The Skin of the Universe” has a weird title, a simple melody but some interesting keyboards in the background. It also begins with a Smashing Pumpkins quote, sort of: “My reflection, broken mirror, no connection to myself”. Of course, they quote from the Pumpkins’ song that Evanescence covered. The title track has a mellow, yet sinister melody and an infectious “Leave all your tears behind” chorus. “Reach the Sky” is the album’s entire sound summed up, with its oddly haunting acoustic guitar, wind sounds, occasional electric guitars, violins on the outro and equally haunting vocals from both Olga and Viktor.
Of course, the issue with the ballads’ simple and repetitive guitar melodies is that they feel very dull and same-y. At least, they sound nice. But my favorite ballad, the one that avoids all the repetition and dullness of the other songs, is “My Fragile Winter Dream”, with its beautiful and sad melody and feeling of despair and helplessness. That and “The Game” are some of Dark Princess’s best songs, which is why their next album included Russian versions of those same tracks.
This was a very strange little album, because while its mixture of styles feels extremely formulaic on paper, and yet it’s hard to put into any genre, and while it's easy to compare it to other artists, it actually doesn’t sound like anyone other than itself. That makes it a difficult album to recommend. Only listen to this if you can open your mind to mostly acoustic, mellow (boring to some) rock albums that clearly copy Evanescence and Linkin Park. But if you’re open to that, you should know it’s a clearly successful imitation of its inspirations. This is the rare gem among fallenmaniac albums, the kind that does something completely unique with its obvious influences. I think that’s why this band had a longer career than other acts in this series, and why they’re a band I don’t love, but will always remember fondly.
