Ajana – Home In Decay (demo)
Singer/keyboardist Ajana describes her music as primarily Doom Metal, but I mainly hear very different sounds on Home In Decay – and that’s actually okay. The German’s second album deals more often in post- and somewhat mainstream Metal guitar lines that ride on the cloud-high vocal melodicism permeating her voice, but slower-paced Doom riffs do arise on the fourth track “Grey” and the excellent “Hollow Bliss”, showing up sporadically elsewhere. Even so, the “rock-n-roll” pace of the drums keeps what I perceive as the intended sadness at bay – though the playing is solid, the melancholy would be far more discernible and poignant with slower timings. Her keyboard work is varied, ranging from occult-rock warbles to major/minor-key jangle that wouldn’t be entirely out of place on a jazz/alternative album. Ajana’s voice soothes, but has an off-kilter quality that keeps the sweetness tolerable, all the while beckoning the guitars to follow. Tenets of folk and gothic march together on ‘Not to be’, and though this isn’t the type of album I’d listen to often (or of a genre Worm Gear would typically cover), the professionalism of these two styles and others performed remains strong. Some songs threaten to enter a symphonic territory a la Nightwish, but reign themselves in before becoming overbearing. If female-fronted, elaborate Metal is in your wheelhouse, you could certainly do worse. -Jim
http://www.facebook.com/ajanaofficial
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