from: http://www.metalmaidens.com/Cdreviews2y.htm
ALANTIA-Remnants Of A Dream (EP) (independent)
This band hails from Amsterdam in The Netherlands and this six track EP
runs for forty minutes. The soprano voice of Liselot Mazee likes to push
you into the well-known direction of the tons of gothic metal bands in
this scene. However, I hear a slightly different approach in opener
"Moondale”. I hear a sound, that marks two different music styles coming
together. Gothic metal with a melodic touch, because of the soprano
vocals and a heavy and rather brutal touch, because of the death metal
grunts. Their melodic, slightly symphonic sound could even be very
enjoyable for classic hard rock fans, that like the sound of IRON
MAIDEN. Try to put these two styles into a blender and listen to the
sound of ALANTIA with an open mind and you will be positively surprised.
Just listen to the beginning of "Erase A Trace” and you’ll be
devastated about the heaviness of this track. Besides the beautiful
vocals of Liselot, the band consists of Mark Rog on guitar and brutal
grunts, Nicky Walraven on bass and backing vocals, Tom van der Schaaf on
guitar, Erik Slooten on keyboards and Nan de Vent on drums. You have
read it right, the band consists of three metal ladies, which is fifty
percent. You don’t see that too often, which makes this band even more
interesting for us. I really L-O-V-E-D the speed changes in combination
with the crying keyboards and the riffing guitars. It’s the introduction
to a short instrumental part with an exciting heavy edge to it.
"Somnium” contains a lot of speed changes and another leading role for
the brutal keyboard attacks. If this doesn’t sound exciting to you, then
I’ll eat my hat. The guitars also ask for some special attention in
this song, but the vocals of Liselot reign supreme here. "Lady Hawke”
leans a bit more towards the sound, that you would expect from ALANTIA,
which is a mix of WITHIN TEMPTATION (slower) and NIGHTWISH. Musically,
it is perfectly done, but comparing to the other tracks, it sounds more
average. Then we have arrived to the next song "Waltz”, which sounds
like some kind of metal version of a waltz. DORO has written her version
of the "Metal Tango”, but this is another ballroom dance, that you’ll
be able to enjoy in a ‘metal version’ right now. It’s an instrumental
tune, which sounds quite nice in my opinion. The best is saved for last
on this ten minute plus epic masterpiece, called "Tempted Dark Art”. It
includes heavy drum rolls, a horror type of keyboard sound, guitar
riffs, some heavy grunts and a musical approach, that would even please
the many SAVATAGE fans. It’s the highlight on this CD for me. A CD, that
surprised me many times and proves that there’s still a lot of talent
in our beautiful country. ALANTIA can be reached by writing to
alantia@live.nl. And although the hidden track sounds too short and too
cheesy, I still would like to recommend this piece of art to those of
you, who like music that doesn’t ride the paved trail in music land.
Website: http://www.alantia.nl.
[9 points] (Toine van Poorten)
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