When The Tide Breaks

Sinphonia plays a very interesting Power / Gothic Metal, with some progressive elements. The female vocals reminds me of a French band called Headline, being very intense and overwhelming. But like for Headline sometimes, they tend to get annoying (or even bloody boring here). where a Tarja (Nightwish) will keep you breathless for life, the vocals of Sinphonia are a double edge sword, it can enlighten the music or accompany its fall. Musically the band plays an emotion packed power metal, with excellent arrangement parts. Thanks to the majestic keyboards that are, along with the excellent guitars the heart and soul of this band. Just like Headline, the music is square power metal but with lots of progressive parts. The strong arrangements helping the emotions flow through you while you listen to Sinphonia's music. The musicianship and song writing is also quite interesting, although they haven't invented anything, they demonstrate a good deal of originality in mixing different musical styles (therefore making it difficult to really classify them). In the end I'd say that Sinphonia are a very talented band. But most of the time, their music tends to depress you, and I would have to blame the singer, who's melancholy in singing is tearing the band apart as far as I'm concerned (I usually have to stop the CD before it reaches the end). But she shows some moments where she can enlighten the excellent musical atmosphere of this band and achieve a very good result, so there's hope. I look forward to listen more of their material and hope they will do something about the vocals, cause if you ask me, there are holding Sinphonia back. Try before you buy.