Xandria Album: “Indía”

While not my favorite Xandria CD it is still very good IMHO. Lisa Middlehauve's vocals are some of the best in rock. If you are into Nightwish, After Forever, Within Temptation, Epica, Oratory or Evanesance then Xandria is right up your ally. While not the operetic style of Tarja of Nightwish it is more along the lines of Amy Lee's, I stumbled upon Xandria while surfing and I am glad I did. Xandria's sound is progressive filled with feeling. While not filled with all of the technical skill of bands like Dream Theater or Fates Warning, I really enjoyed Xandria's India. It still shows that the European sound and style of metal is far supperior than the US sound and style. Some catagorize this as Gothic but to me Gothic is Old World not horror/vampire based. If you want real Gothic then turn to Elvenking or Ensifrum, If you want vampire gothic then Dargaard is your answer.

"Now & Forever" is the song that introduced me to Xandria, and thus the first album I purchased of Xandria. Just like the previous album, this whole album is good. This album in my opinion has more of that symphonic feel to it with Lisa as the front-woman. My favorites are: India, Now & Forever, Fight Me, Widescreen, and Winterhearted.

Being a fan of all forms of metal including that of genre pioneers Judas Priest, I was in no small measure upset when I noticed that the first and title track "India"'s opening riff sounds exactly like Judas Priest's Nightcrawler!

That travesty apart, the album is an okay effort. Lisa Middlehauve (sp?) is a good singer but definitely not a great one. There also seems to be a profusion of electronics all around... I guess everyone's doing it, and so are Xandria. While quite a few of the songs are catchy in a mainstream-ish way, I strongly suspect that's due to reusing catchy riffs and melodies (a statement I'm not going to back up, look for it yourself!). I know for certain that this album has grown old on me, unlike other female-fronted albums like Within Temptation's The Silent Force or The Gathering's If_Then_Else.

On the other hand, Xandria definitely have better talent than all but a handful of gothic/symphonic/female-fronted bands out there, the production of this album is good, and the vocals and guitars are clear and not overdone. Catchy tracks include "India", "In Love With The Darkness", "The End of Every Story". The album is excellent for easy listening (even though some tracks are heavy), but I was a bit let down by the lyrics and the lack of any "concept" to the album (given two tracks had 'India' in the title, etc.). Hope they do better in their next offering!