Review: "Prevail" by Anadies

Artist: Anadies

Title: Prevail

Release Date: 9/19/2008

Playing in a female-fronted metal band has to be tough. It seems like it would be a constant uphill battle against the machismo of the genre at large, and a struggle to retain the female identity while simultaneously maintaining credibility with listeners who crave extremity.

And really, the mix is about half and half. Vocalists like Morgan Lander (Kittie) and Angela Gossow (Arch Enemy) growl away like possessed beasts, but often come across as if they are just trying to keep up with the boys. Conversely, there are singers like Simone Simons (Epica) and Sharon den Adel (Within Temptation) whose voices simply soar through the air (and often times out of sync with what the rest of their respective bands are playing) in a hyper-feminine, operatic style which can turn off listeners who don't read historical romance. Lacey Mosley (Flyleaf) sounds like a baby choking on a cat. Amy Lee (Evanescence) sounds like a cat choking on a baby. Is there any hope?

Yes. Yes there is. Enter Colorado's Anadies, a five-piece metal act fronted by Christy Lumberg whose sophomore album "Prevail" is a startlingly good middle-ground for listeners who crave the vocal harmonics of Lacuna Coil but who also want the aggressive and catchy melody lines of Killswitch Engage. Recorded and mixed at Flatline Audio by Dave Otero (Cephalic Carnage, Cobalt, Martriden), "Prevail" is a wonderfully-executed, richly diverse album with something for everybody.

There are influences abound throughout the proceedings, ranging from metal and goth to industrial and classical. The musicianship of the album is superb; the guitars are crunchy as hell with some killer leads, the rhythm section goes off like a machine gun, and the string arrangements and keyboards are subtle and haunting. However, the real treat of the album is Lumberg's vocals; her voice is perfectly suited to the way the songs are structured. She clearly has a wide range, but she displays discipline in that range. She doesn't seem compelled to go off into left field (or come in from out of it as the case may be) in the same self-aggrandizing way others within this genre tend to, which is very refreshing.

The album is rife with gems that stand up well to repeated listenings. The opening track, "Trials" starts out sweet enough but soon the time signature shifts and the claws come out on the chorus with Lumberg's voice soaring amidst a gut-wrenching (in a good way) onslaught of harsh guitars and dry-lung backing vocal roars. "F.T." recalls Pat Benetar and The Cranberries to some extent while "Nothing" is a smooth, bass-driven, Tool-esque prog-metal progression that segues into a truly anthemic piece by the end. And while one might fully expect the album to close with a quiet piano-driven dirge, Anadies surprises yet again with "Remorse," an up-tempo head bobber that ends with a full-speed cacophony of guitars and roars that seek to remind us of the aural beating we've just received.

The overall excellence of the album notwithstanding, the strongest track has to be "Visions." The song begins slow enough, but after an electronics-tinged bridge, the tempo kicks up and gets the head banging in a frenzy. Near the end of the song, the throttle comes back off with Lumberg really putting her voice on display and hitting some of the most hypnotic note progressions ever recorded.

All in all, "Prevail" is an extremely strong release and sure to put Anadies on the collective radar. Anyone who thinks they've heard it all in the world of female-fronted metal must hear Anadies to believe them.

Country: United States

Label: None
URL: http://www.myspace.com/anadies

http://www.anadies.com/