Like many people, I knew the soprano 'Lori Lewis' during the various tours of 'Therion' because she became the unavoidable singer of the Swedish 'Christofer Johnsson' (see the exceptional musical work 'Beloved Antichrist') and, at each concert, she did marvelous performances which always triggered me that little thrill so characteristic of intense pleasure. Therefore, she has always been attached to ‘Therion’ and, for my part, has long deserved to be recognized in her own name as a certain ‘Tarja’. So it's done with this first solo album 'Carmina Romanus' ('Roman songs' in Latin) which does not hit the headlines but which is a first studio recording which will certainly be a milestone in the career of the American and which is influenced by the sun and the planets in our solar system. Of course, 'Christopher Johnsson' is not far away and it was he who served as an intermediary with the composer 'Anton Andryushin', who had already composed all the songs for the album 'A New Day Begins' from his project 'Arcane Symphony' and 'Lori Lewis' put other lyrics on these 10 tracks.
It is with the energetic 'Sol Invictus' with reminiscences 'Therionesque' that the album begins with a first performance by Lori with a clear song and then perfectly mixing the two registers, then, 'Mercury' offers us a first heady melody which remains engraved in our head in a fast tempo, 'Thomas Vikström', singer of 'Therion' coming to flesh out the vocal section. The tone softens with avec 'Venus' which plays a slow melody to the delight of our ears, then ‘Tellus’ continues in melodic lines which are immediately tamed with Lori at the top of her art. The rest is just a succession of unstoppable melodies combining beautifully the energy of saturated guitar riffs and the divine song of Lori, with the powerful 'Mars', the aerial 'Luna', the fast 'Jupiter'or 'Saturn' inspired by classical music, the album ending with, first of all, the catchy 'Uranus' and finally the ultimate 'Neptun' with sumptuous vocalizations by Lori and which after the last note gives only one desire : to press the play button again to start a new listening.
In summary, as you will have understood, even if the compositions had already been written for another project, 'Lori Lewis' shows that they are entirely made for her, but would it not be simply because that she knows how to adapt to all styles and sublimate them. ‘Carmina Romanus’ is of course advised to all fans of ‘Therion’ but goes beyond and will certainly be welcomed by a much wider audience who like to mix a melodic metal with a singing alternating a clear and lyrical register... | |
