Voices Of Destiny: 3CD Collection (2010-2014)

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Voices Of Destiny: 3CD Collection (2010-2014)

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Early 2004 guitarist Christopher Gutjahr (Guitarist) and bassist Jens Hartwig founded their band in Ludwigsburg, Germany. To reach their musical goals soonafter Lukas Palme (keyboards), Erik Seitz (drums) and Patricia Riegraf (female vocals) were added to the line-up to make VOICES OF DESTINY complete. In Oktober 2005 though the band split with singer Patricia Riegraf who was replaced soonafter by Maike Holzmann as she impressed everybody with her performance. In 2006 the first shows were done and the band became a well-working team who in 2007 entered studio for the first time to record some demo tracks. At this time keyboarder Lukas Palme started adding Shouted vocals as a contract to Maike’s soprano voice a very important part of Voices Of Destiny’s own attitude.

The duo comined with pounding drums, heavy but yet melodic guitarwork and orchestral arrangements make the sound of VOICES OF DESTINY something special. Following more shows in 2009 the band recorded their “Dare to Reach” EP and takes part in the „Youngsterball Contest“ at the LKA Longhorn, Stuttgart which they won after jury decision. In summer 2009 the band signs their first deal with Massacre Records and in August the recordings start for the first album with producer Andy Horn (Edenbridge, Lanfear, Rob Rock, Liv Kristine, Mortal Love, Majesty u.a.) at his Red Room studio.

For the band photos the international top photographer Alex Kühr (Amon Amarth, Edguy, Brainstorm, Primal Fear, Stratovarius u.a.) could be won for the project and last but not least the artwork was in the hands of international artist Mattias Noren/Progart (Sabaton, Illdisposed, Evergrey, Angra, Kamalot).

On February 26th the VOICES OF DESTINY debut „From the Ashes“ will be in stores – a complete package that leaves no question unanswered. The yound band impressingly combines epic metal like Edenbridge or Epica with goth in the vein of Within Tempation adding some classic metal and death growls. A debut that deserves to be recognized!

~ last.fm

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Voices Of Destiny: 3CD Collection (2010-2014)

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Voices Of Destiny: 3CD Collection (2010-2014)

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Forming in 2004, German Symphonic Metal quintet, Voices of Destiny have finally unveiled their debut release, entitled ‘From the Ashes’. After a self-released demo recorded in 2007, the group participated in a local musical contest held in Stuttgart, Germany and received the jury award at the finals. Then in mid 2009, Massacre Records offered Voices of Destiny a worldwide contract; culminating with the recording of this CD following soon after.

Released in February of 2010, ‘From the Ashes’ is a well crafted disc, joining the symphonic metal cluster of previous bands like Nightwish, Epica, Edenbridge and Within Temptation. With most symphonic metal bands, Voices of Destiny also have a gothic influence in their music, in which should therefore appeal to fans of the above-mentioned bands; but also bands like Operatika, Xandria, After Forever, Dawn of Destiny and Visions of Atlantis.

Adding depth to their already (almost neo) classically-entwined symphonic sound is the inclusion of raspy male vocals (Lukas Palme) in parts throughout each track. Overall, the male vocals are quite non-threatening; with the most extreme vocals you will find on the release is short, deep growls. Main vocalist, Maike Holzmann has quite a bit of talent, with a seductive and angelic voice that can glide high as the night sky. Maike, who is just 20 years of age, sings with a slight operatic style; similar to Tarja Turunen (ex-Nightwish), when she sung with Nightwish on their ‘Angels Fall First’, ‘Oceanborn’ and ‘Wishmaster’ albums.

The melodic guitar blasts comes care of axeman Christopher Gutjahr, while keyboardist Lukas Palme does a great job in keeping it all together, like all keyboardists in symphonic metal bands. His creative, aggressive and atmospheric keys are easily one of the highlights on the release as he takes charge throughout each track, melding wonderfully with the guitar and bass.

With some symphonic metal bands of the past, there has been times where the bands in question hold off on an aggressive style, going for a more melodic and synth driven approach. The lighter side of symphonic metal, you might say. What I really like about Voices of Destiny, is that they are not afraid to get heavy. On numerous tracks on the CD, there is a fury of double bass, entwined with dazzling speedy guitar riffs; pulverising power chords aplenty. The only shortfall that I want to mention is that the track times are just too short (the longest track on the album is just 5:01). For the style of metal they are producing, putting so much into each track, the 3:30 average is just not enough time to deliver the goods.

Thankfully all is forgiven, because ‘From the Ashes’ contains some top-notch kick ass tracks; beginning with the CD opener “Ray of Hope”. But wait, there’s more, including the swift and upbeat “Return from the Ashes” and the thunderous and brilliant (best track on the album, IMO) “Endeavour to Life”. Finally, the powerful “All Eyes on Me” the grand movie score sensations of “Red Winter’s Snow II: Blood and Stone” and the bombastic and devilish “Not the One” rounds out the scorching debut from this young band.

Voices of Destiny certainly have a bright and big future ahead of them if they can continue to produce this kind of quality on their releases, after laying down the rock solid foundations with ‘From the Ashes’. I was greatly surprised with this album and it is a fantastic effort knowing full well that this is a debut CD. ‘From the Ashes’ is definitely worth tracking down if you’ve liked what you have read thus far. Without a doubt this is one of the best debuts of the year.

by TrooperOfSteel, metal-archives.com

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Voices Of Destiny: 3CD Collection (2010-2014)

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6 years after the band was formed, Germany’s Voices of Destiny finally released their debut CD, entitled ‘From the ashes’. A female fronted symphonic power metal band, Voices of Destiny had a great formula for their first CD, aside from strong songwriting, musically included using gothic and neo-classical metal; and as a result received positive reviews around the web. Now in the first quarter of 2012, Voices of Destiny have returned for CD number II, called ‘Power dive’, hoping to recapture the shine and pristine that the first CD contained.

Fronting the band is young female vocalist Maike Holzmann, who sings in a semi to full operatic style similar to Tarja Turunen back in the early days of Nightwish (‘Oceanborn’, etc); however she is still grappling with precision and power in her voice. Gruff male vocalist/keyboardist, Lukas Palme has taken on a larger role on ‘Power dive’, being the “beast” to Maike’s “beauty”; belting out cookie-monster vocals, growls and screams throughout the CD. At times it can be off putting as I feel that his vocal additions is not really required as much as it is on this CD, but it does help with adding a touch of aggression into songs that may be lacking aggression in either the musical department or with Maike.

While the debut ‘From the ashes’ contained a great consistency throughout, with songwriting, vocal performance and musicianship, unfortunately ‘Power dive’ takes a noticeable dive in pretty much all those areas across the board. Despite having an angelic and harmonious voice, Maike’s delivery can be quite weak and unimpressive at times when it is needed to be strong, passionate and commanding. The operatic style can also get tedious very quickly, especially when Maike’s pitch and (lack of) emotion stays on one particular level. The times where Maike sings in a semi-operatic style, her vocals are far more pleasant and also contain more emotion; which begs the question – why not sing that way 100% of the time?

The music on the new release pretty much follows the same script as their first CD, with an entwinement of symphonic power metal mixed with a touch of neo-classical and elements of gothic metal. Guitarist Christopher Gutjahr picks up where he left off from the debut, however with slightly less aggression, replaced by intricate and complex guitar riffs, hooks and passages. I feel that Voices of Destiny could really benefit from a 2nd guitarist, as that would build up the grunt and aggression that is sometimes lacking in their music. The double-bass pummelling from drummer Erik Seitz (who at the time of this review has since left the band) is another enjoyable factor on the CD, although there aren’t as many quicker songs on this CD than the previous.

When talking about the tracks on offer here on ‘Power dive’, I do feel that the first 2 tracks are somewhat weak, where typically a band’s opening 3 tracks on a release should be the strongest. “Power dive”, a slow to mid-paced opening track (after the short intro) trundles along with not much hype and doesn’t get out of first gear except for when it’s time for Lukas Palme to growl his lines. The 2nd track too fails to grab your attention, that being “My separation”. Starting off well almost black metal blast beats, the song soon becomes fairly dreary, although overall a touch better than “Power dive”, with some great guitar/drum passages throughout the track.

The first excellent track on the CD is “Dreams awake”, why – because Maike’s vocals are so much better when they aren’t operatic. There’s also more of a gothic tinge within the song than on the previous 2, plus top-notch guitar riffs and much more emotion and grunt. “Kami” continues the trend of great songs after that disappointing start; this one has a dark gothic theme, crossed with symphonic metal for a kick ass song with thundering bass guitar, double bass and down-tuned guitars. Atmospheric, heavy and catchy, that’s what you wanna hear and “Kami” comes through with the goods.

After the brilliant “Kami”, the next best song on ‘Power dive’ is the semi-ballad “Being worth”. Containing one of the best vocal performances from Maike, the song is straight-up gothic metal (but with symphonic metal in parts), with warming atmospheric keyboards and deep and powerful guitar riffs. Above all that, the passion and emotion on the track is quite high, which adds further depth and meaning to the song; in short, you’ll remember and keep coming back to it. The 3rd of the 3 absolute best tracks on the CD is the bombastic “Your hands”, a memorable kick-ass track that has everything you want – power, grunt, emotion, and a nice blend of Maike’s and Lukas’ vocals working well together.

While it is not as convincing and consistent as their debut, Voices of Destiny have still delivered an above average CD containing more good songs than bad. The inconsistency on the CD will need to be looked at, as well as deciding which style of vocal delivery is better suited for Maike. Either move forward with the operatic style, which I feel she struggles with at times, or just ditch the operatic style and sing as she normally would; where I find she excels at and is able to sing with more passion and conviction. Overall, if you enjoyed Voices of Destiny’s debut release, then ‘Power dive’ will also keep you entertained, after a sketchy start however. Also, fans of other symphonic/gothic metal bands like Edenbridge, Epica, After Forever, Nemesea, Visions of Atlantis and early Nightwish should find ‘Power dive’ a CD worthy of picking up.

by TrooperOfSteel, metal-archives.com

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Voices Of Destiny: 3CD Collection (2010-2014)

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A late 2014 release, Voices Of Destiny capped the year with a third full-length album featuring a new vocalist for an epic, soaring sound that combines female-fronted Gothic metal with more extreme styles. Fans of outfits like Sirenia or Revamp will be right at home here with this varied release that offers both soothing symphonics and shredding metal in alternating doses.

A “beauty and the beast” band, there's both operatic clean singing on the female side and harsh growls on the male side, but the vocals actually have more variety than just an either/or scenario. Different styles come up across the disc, including some voice-over work to push the album's story, and new front-woman Ada Flechtner has great range within her overall sound. Moving past the vocals into the instrumentation, “Crisis Cult” is an album that's consistently energetic and has a good balance between symphonic/melodic aspects and the harsher metal elements.

A few songs do shift more towards the softer side, like the all piano and vocal ending track “Your Creation” or the less-heavy offering “Under Control,” but these are counterbalanced by tracks like the frantic and heavy “Stormcrow.” Every track showcases a subtle but distinct shift in tone as well, so there's very little bleed through across the album. The aforementioned “Stormcrow” for instance utilizes sci-fi keyboards, while “The Great Hunt” is filled with movie score style string instruments and “To The Slaughter” includes some stuttering industrial/electronic effects.

Anyone who digs symphonic bands that switch between harsh and smooth will almost certainly love “Crisis Cult,” and it's definitely an album to check out if you dig anything from Mayan to Xandria. The only real complaint to be found is that it's not a particularly unique sound and doesn't significantly change the genre formula, but the quality is so high and the songs memorable enough that the album shines anyway.

Highs: Great beauty and the beast style gothic/symphonic metal.

Lows: A few of the songs may be too soft for the death metal crowd, and it's not really a groundbreaking release genre-wise.

Bottom line: Voices Of Destiny returns with a new vocalist for this third symphonic metal outing that blends harsh and soft together as one.

by xFiruath, metalunderground.com