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Review:
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AFormed in 2008, these Brazilians have uncovered a
rare diamond in stunning singer Stéfanie Schirmbeck. Her
powerful voice is the fulcrum of this debut album, packed
with emotionally charged songs. Their sound is quite unique,
heavier and more muscular than Evanescence, but with Stéfanie’s
melodic vocal lines, passionate delivery and emotive lyrics.
Their intention is not to make you headbang, but to move
you emotionally. The producer is Aquiles Priester, the drummer
of two of Brazil’s top bands, Angra and Hangar, and their
keys player, Fabio Laguna, supplies the keyboards. It is
mixed by top producer Tommy Newton who has twiddled the
knobs for bands like Helloween, Elegy, Kamelot, Ten and
UFO. It’s not surprising it sounds so good. ‘The Truth’,
‘What I Want’, ‘Take Me Closer’ and ‘Breath in Time’ are
mighty and massive. ‘Higher’, ‘Waiting for a Change’, ‘Mine’
and ‘Into the Light’ (the video is on the Female Voices
blog) are power ballads with the emphasis on power. The
final cut is a version of Alanis Morissette’s ‘Uninvited’
which they turn into a towering monster of a song. With
the right exposure this band has all the tools to break
through. I came up with the slogan ‘The victory of melody
over muscle’ for the Female Voices Blog, well, here you
have melody and muscle in perfect unison. It can be ordered
form their Myspace http://www.myspace.com/officialholiness
, but it is crying out for international distribution, a
very impressive 9 out of 10.
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