TIGERSCLAW – Princess Of The Dark

TIGERSCLAW - Princess Of The Dark
  • 6.5/10
    TIGERSCLAW - Princess Of The Dark - 6.5/10
6.5/10

Summary

7Hard
Release date: July 14, 2017

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Tigersclaw’s Princess Of The Dark begins with the unaccompanied voice of Elena Minina—smart move as her elegant yet powerful vocals are easily the most distinctive aspect of the album, which will appeal to anyone who is a fan of Lacuna Coil, Nightwish, or is eagerly awaiting the next Evanescence album (Tigersclaw has a video cover of “My Immortal” on their Facebook page).  The problem is that none of the individual songs on Princess Of The Dark leap out at the listener with the punch of any of those aforementioned bands’ best tunes.

The opener “World Of The Dead” comes close, and “Storm Of Steel” opens with a promising heavy riff, but is quickly pushed to the back of the mix once the vocals kick in. The issue with a great deal of Symphonic Metal is that it sounds like all the edges are smoothed off, whereas the greats of the subgenre—Ayreon, Therion—have elements that keep the music unpredictable and also absolutely thrilling live. Elena’s vocals are beautiful throughout, but are multi-tracked through most of the album, and the band is really just drummer Ralf Neumann and talented multi-instrumentalist Alexander Baier. There’s zero friction to be found on Princess Of The Dark; none of the grit that typically gives Metal its power and edge. There aren’t even any screams on the song “Screams”.

That lack of friction, of course, might be the point. Princess Of The Dark sounds great, the music is technically well-crafted and Elena’s voice elevates it above the pack, but the album is unlikely to fully engage your heart, mind, or adrenal glands. Enjoyable, but not transformative.

TUNE INTO METALEXPRESSRADIO.COM at NOON & MIDNIGHT (EST) / 6:00 & 18:00 (CET) TO HEAR THE BEST TRACKS FROM THIS UPCOMING RELEASE!!!

Author

  • Daniel Waters

    Daniel was a reviewer here at Metal Express Radio. Iron Maiden’s Piece Of Mind wasn’t the first Metal album he owned, but it was the one that lifted the lid off his soul when he received the record as a gift on his 15th birthday. He's been a Metal fan ever since. He's probably best known as the author of various Young Adult novels such as the Generation Dead series and the ghost story Break My Heart 1,000 Times, now also a major motion picture entitled I Still See You, starring Bella Thorne. Writing and music, especially Heavy Metal music, has always been inextricably linked in his mind and career. His first paid gig doing any type of writing was for Cemetery Dance, where he wrote a horror-themed music column called Dead Beats, and when he was writing the first Generation Dead novel he had a ritual where he started his writing day with a Metal playlist that kicked off with “Crushing Belial” by Shadows Fall.

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