Artist: Coronatus
Title: Terra Incognita
Genre: Gothic Metal
Release Date: 18th November 2011
Label: Massacre Records
Album Review
German CORONATUS was formed in 1999 and underwent a lot of band-member changes, be it departures and returns. They mark themselves by having two female singers, one with a more operatic vocal contrasted by a rock singer, nowadays it’s Ada Fletcher as the band’s soprano and the rock-orientated vocal is being presented by Mareike Makosch. The band has four albums under its belt, all bearing Latin names, although you won’t necessarily need to brush cobwebs off your Latin dictionary, they’re not so obscure. Their latest is ‘Terra Incognita’ (Unknown Land). It’s marked by heavy riffs, some from straightforward Heavy Metal, sometimes leaning more towards epic Metal; there are not so ostentatious orchestra parts and even some folk-ish elements making their genre generalisation of Gothic Metal shakier. The vocals come out truly well, the contrast as a great idea. The compositions have a sense of a method in their chaotic nature. The songs dip from Metal to Rock often-times too is yet another element that brings enough diversity in the presentation of the tracks.
The contrasts are also with the way they mix German sung songs with English ones, at which point it’s interesting that the German ones come out much better and with more edge and depth. In a deluxe edition you’ll also find two live songs ‘Mein Herz’ and ‘Kristallklares Wasser’. Within this edition the songs to listen out for are ‘Fernes Land’ where the male vocal comes on as well; there is something there that weirdly reminds me of LINKIN PARK in the opening and the main hook, there are many references like that, it will throw you out as they seem farfetched and yet ‘there’, the folk-ish element is also brilliant, utterly modernised. ‘Vor der Schlacht’ reaches to Heavy Metal with its riffs and to the Symphonic Metal within its evocative and dramatic vocal. It comes clearer through this song too that what makes the German-sung songs better is a stronger sense of narrative than their English counter-parts. The album is interesting, varied; moreover, it doesn’t stink of being generic, which is probably the most welcome mark of it for me. It’s a good, solid and quality album.
Tracklist
01. Saint Slayer
02. Fernes Land
03. Dead Mans‘ Tale
04. Sie stehen am Weg
05. Vor der Schlacht
06. Hateful Affection
07. Der Kleriker
08. Das zweite Gesicht
09. In Signo Crucis
10. Der letzte Freund
11. Traumzeit
12. Terra Incognita
Line-up
Ada Flechtner – Vocals
Mareike Makosch – Vocals
Psalm 87 – Keyboards
Aria Keramati Noori – Guitars
Dirk Baur – Bass
Mats Kurth – Drums
Websites
www.coronatus.de
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 8
Sound: 8
Total: 8 / 10
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