Infinite & Divine – Silver Lining
Frontiers Music srl
Release Date: 09/04/2021
Running Time: 47:11
Review by Simon Black
7.5/10
Another day, another debut album. The core of the band is two established Swedish song-writers; Tezzi (Terese Persson ) on vocals, and Jan Åkesson on guitar, bass, and pretty much anything else other than the drums. Åkesson has declared publicly that he has taken a back seat from live work and this definitely has the feel of a studio only project. It is pitched firmly in the Melodic Metal camp that is occasional known to dabble its nose into the Synth-tinged Symphonic instrumentally. I say that because despite having some blisteringly good lead work in there, the majority of the riffage takes a slightly further back seat in the mix to the epically expansive keyboards.
As debut’s go, it’s got a lavishly rich sound and production values, but then these are not new hands (with Åkesson producing) and by all accounts the project has been baking in the oven for a few years before getting released. Tezzi’s vocal performance is quite something however and quite rightly is there front and centre in the mix for most of the songs. Her voice is gutsy and soulful and clearly full of heart and presence, but if I have a criticism it’s that she chooses to follow the main song melody lines a little too closely and a little more experimentation or some subtle Symphonic vocal touches here would have gone a long way.
Notwithstanding, there are some belters on here, ‘Keep Moving On’ is particularly memorable, along with the almost folky intro to ‘Burn No More’ which then takes a gutsy rockier road, but the fact that the album dips its toes into a number of different styles whilst staying close to the melodic core is quite refreshing. Although some of the tracks can be a little average, there is nothing bad here and the production values are so strong that even the weaker song structures pass by the ear unless you’re being deliberately critical (which is sort of my job). Time will tell if this is a one-off studio project or a full blown band, but it’s definitely a promising start and with a bit of confidence to be more experimental, then things could get very interesting indeed.
‘Infinite & Divine’ (Official Video)
TRACKLISTING:
01. II Feel Alive
02. Infinite And Divine
03. Keep Moving On
04. Not Too Late
05. Wasteland
06. Burn No More
07. We Are One
08. Off The End Of The World
09. You And I
10. While You’re Looking For Love
11. Perplexed Perfection
LINE-UP:
Tezzi – Lead and Backing Vocals
Jan Åkesson – Guitars, Bass, Keyboards, Backing Vocals and Programming
Jens Westberg – Drums
LINKS:
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