After the symphonic metal of the pirates of 'Visions Of Atlantis' with their very good live at Wacken, we find the Swiss 'Melissa Bonny' with her project 'Ad Infinitum' for a third album and a new theme on the fall of Egyptian civilization through the fate of Cleopatra. In three years, 'Ad Infinitum' has managed to establish itself as a safe bet of metal mixing symphonic and power with anthems of formidable efficiency. For this last opus, the power side is a little less present and they have once again bet on catchy melodies that we appropriate from the first listen in a resolutely modern style. And as we will see, it is with a lot of single releases for 6 months that the group presents us with this last baby, since the first five compositions of the album have their videos.
We are welcomed by the two energetic and melodic missiles that are 'Eternal Rains' (see the video above) and 'Upside Down' (see the video here) which will certainly be a hit in concert and in which we find the ever so powerful vocals of 'Melissa Bonny' which inserts, here and there, a few furious growls. We continue with 'Seth' (see the video here) with oriental sounds well in tune with the theme, then 'From the Ashes' (see the video here) moderates the ardours with a new melodic jewel which immediately enters the head and which shows a beautiful alternation of intensities between the verses and the chorus and 'Somewhere Better' (see the video here) is the power ballad of the album which, even if the rhythm section remains quite muscular, brings a welcome moment of respite after all the energy developed at the beginning of the album. Here we go again with 'The Underworld' which is certainly one of the fastest titles and in which 'Melissa Bonny' uses her extreme voice the most, the whole keeping a catchy melodic side, then, 'Ravenous' is a heavy mid-tempo with a marked rhythm and brings the Celtic side of 'Nightwish' and the melodic side of 'Within Temptation', the clean vocals being quite close to that of 'Sharon den Adel', even if here and there, 'Melissa Bonny' growls a few growls. New ballad break, this time much quieter with the magnificent 'Under the Burning Skies' in which 'Melissa Bonny' shows an angelic sweetness on catchy melodic lines and we still think of the most beautiful ballads of 'Within Temptation' at the beginning of the years 2000. Follows 'Architect of Paradise' which is a new melodic hit with beautiful variations of the rhythm section throughout the title bringing a slight progressive side, then, 'The Serpent's Downfall' comes to deploy new catchy melodic lines in an atmosphere more subdued and added to the album's debut singles making it yet another candidate to add to a concert set list. And to end this beautiful album in style, 'Ad Infinitum' offers us two quite different compositions with the mid-tempo 'New Dawn' which alternates measured verses and a chorus deploying a beautiful power and which has a very beautiful instrumental passage in second part of title with a magnificent guitar solo, then, introduced by a narrative interpreted by 'Chrigel Glanzmann' of 'Eluveitie', 'Legends' closes the debates with a new catchy composition and a last chorus still very effective. Note the addition of the cover of two titles in instrumental version 'Upside Down' and 'Somewhere Better' for those who would like to start a karaoke but which, for my part, are quite dispensable.
In summary, 'Ad Infinitum' confirms with this third album that they are now part of the top of the basket in symphonic metal and if you like bands like 'Within Temptation', 'Nightwish', 'Delain', 'Xandria' or even 'Beyond The Black', you should undoubtedly quickly adopt this third chapter 'Downfall' which takes us on a journey to the land of Cleopatra because 'Ad Infinitum' merges all the influences of these essential symphonic metal formations... | |
