Merchants Of Air
  • Home
  • Reviews
    • Albums
    • Concerts
  • Premieres
  • Interviews
  • Giveaways
  • Playlists
  • Shop
    • Merchants Of Air releases
  • About us
    • About Us
    • Writers Wanted
    • Logos and banner
    • Advertise
    • Mailinglist

Open Access - Over A Mountain Peak

30/7/2015

Comments

 
folk metal / symphonic metal
bandcamp
facebook
Picture
This is a coincidence.  A few days ago I was being nostalgic about the era where gothic metal became a success.  In my days as a DJ in a local metal bar, I often encountered young bands who were trying to make an impact.  One of these bands played a pretty basic but decent gothic metal set, including an ok cover of Within Temptation's mega hit 'Ice Queen'. 

At the exact same moment I was thinking about that, probably forgotten, band an email came in from Polish band Open Access who claim be a female fronted symphonic metal band.  So I decided to download and play the album and to my surprise it sounded exactly like I remembered that live performance decades ago, except for the Within Temptation cover.

Open Access is a band from Cracow that came into existence in 2013.  This first effort is the result of a year of rehearsing and playing concerts throughout Poland and should function as an foretaste for the full-length which they plan to record next year.  There's four songs on this e.p., each of them being a nice blend of folk, symphonic and power metal, complete with female vocals and violins.

The violins at times sound as if they come from old My Dying Bride songs, which give the whole a great atmosphere and are great to work with if you're a metal musician.  In opener 'Into The Storm' this actually results in a very decent song that truly reminds me of the old days of Orphanage and company.  This is classic folk metal, maybe a bit basic but still quite impressive.

'Kozak' lifts the tempo and seems to borrow heavily from power metal bands like Kamelot and Sonata Arctica.  Even in the vocals the gothic, fairy tale vocals are left behind to make place for strong an vigorous female voices.  Of course, here too some folk elements are placed, once again making it a well varied song.

Although this six piece is quite young and there's is still room to evolve, both as musicians and as a band, I must say I'm pleasantly surprised by this effort.  Title-track 'Over A Mountain Peak' even turns away further from the Nightwish-influenced metal and enters the realms of bands like Korpiklaani or Finntroll.  So does closer 'Vengeance', which is quite a fierce piece of metal.

What Open Access needs now, is a label who is willing to provide the necessary needs to record a well produced full-length album and some more experience on European soil.  Given time and effort I truly believe this Polish band can become a serious player in the current female fronted symphonic metal scene with their own sound and a, hopefully, stunning live performance.


Serge 

Comments
    subscribe to our newsletter

    Genres

    All
    Acoustic
    Alternative
    Ambient
    Avant Garde
    Avant-garde
    Black Metal
    Blues
    Children
    Classical
    Country
    Crust
    Dark Ambient
    Dark Jazz
    Darkwave
    Death Metal
    Doom
    Dream Pop
    Drone
    Drum & Bass
    Dub
    Dubstep
    EBM
    Electro
    Electronic
    Ethereal
    Experimental
    Folk
    Folk Metal
    Funk
    Gothic
    Grindcore
    Grunge
    Hardcore
    Hard Rock
    Heavy Metal
    Hip Hop
    Hip-hop
    Idm
    Indie
    Industrial
    Instrumental
    Jazz
    Krautrock
    Martial
    Math Rock
    Metal
    Metalcore
    Neo Classical
    Neo-classical
    Neo Folk
    Neo-folk
    Noise
    Noise Rock
    Noise-rock
    Nu Metal
    Nu-metal
    Opera
    Pop
    Post Metal
    Post Punk
    Post Rock
    Progressive
    Psychedelic
    Psytrance
    Punk
    Reggae
    Rock
    Score
    Shoegaze
    Singer/songwriter
    Sludge
    Soul
    Southern Rock
    Speed Metal
    Stoner
    Symphonic Metal
    Synthpop
    Techno
    Thrash
    Triphop
    Trip-hop
    World

    Archives

    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015

Find us on

facebook
google+
twitter
tumblr
​
minds

About Us

Contact
FAQ
Logos and banners
© COPYRIGHT 2015. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.