Pristine In Bobdage
[Listenable Records]

When I began listening to "Pristine in Bondage," my initial experience with the band Amaran, my first thought was that they were pretty much a very heavy Lacuna Coil. A few minutes later, I realized that they were very unique sounding; I'd never heard any metal that sounded quite like Amaran. And right now, I'm thinking that the two aforementioned comments are not as discordant as they seem. They are both true, and that juxtaposition characterizes the music that is "Pristine in Bondage."

First off, Johanna DePierre's voice is a dead ringer for Lacuna Coil's Christina Scabbia. Seriously, the two sound so much alike, it would be easy to pretend that Scabbia is singing for Amaran. DePierre has a slightly different style – more self-harmonization, a bit catchier melody lines – but even after several times listening to "Pristine in Bondage," I still find myself thinking of Lacuna Coil. And outside of vocals, there is a certain gothic feeling to the music of Amaran that adds to the ease of this comparison.

But Lacuna Coil this is not. This is far heavier. Though not death metal or black metal specifically, there are enough crushing rhythms and double-bass thunder to qualify "Pristine in Bondage" as extreme metal. No blasting, and only one song (the somewhat out-of-place "Katharsis") features any sort of harsh vocals. But there are more head banging riffs than you can shake a sword at, and wonderful Iron Maiden-esque guitar harmonies throughout. Ronnie Backlund and Kari Kainulainen are phenomenal guitarists, and Robin Bergh is a phenomenal drummer. And Ronnie Bergerståhl, a metal musician near and dear to the Metal Coven's heart, covers bass guitar duties, with several opportunities to show off or be clearly heard. There are no keyboards, a fact that adds to the heaviness of Amaran. If comparisons have to be made, there are some musical similarities to Arch Enemy or other purveyors of brutal melodic death metal.

Amaran can't quite be called "melodic death metal," or "black metal," or "gothic metal," or anything more specific than "metal." But what's important is that this is good music, this is heavy music, and this is music by a band that will probably be gaining popularity over the next few years for being simultaneously unique and familiar. Fans of Lacuna Coil will love "Pristine in Bondage." Fans of brutal metal will enjoy Amaran's latest as well.