1- While I am writing this, I am feeding my ears to Kazanna, a local symphonic metal band and guess what, they're awesome. I have stopped listening to symphonic stuff a long long time ago because lotsa bands of that genre tend to produce lame pop melodies. For me, if you wanna go symphonic, the one word that you should keep in mind is EPIC. Not many bands can capture that epic and grandiose sound. Why settle for fucking pop hooks if you got one whole orchestra backing you up.
KAZANNA
2- Now, this band, Kazanna, a local band, got me really fucking stoked. Seriousfuckingly. Will Of Heroes is their debut EP containing 7 epic hymns that've managed to shake the core out of my symphonic metal judgmentalism. I almost brush these guys out from my radar due to the typical name. I was like, who the fuck calls themselves this? But I gave my curiosity a try. The intro to the Will of Heroes EP nearly blew me off my fucking chair. The orchestral arrangements were crazy and it sounded awesomely epic.
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| Kazanna - Will of Heroes EP |
3- When a metal band uses clean vocals and melodic singing, the first thing that I will want to appreciate is the vocal melodies. If you are unable to compose good melody lines for the vocals, then in you go into my bottomless dustbin. But the vocal lines for Will Of Heroes were very very good especially the melodies for Love Sophistry. The one line harmony was perfectly done. One kudos point there. The only problem I got with the vocals is that it was a bit low in the mix. I was unable to make out what the hell was the singer was singing. The singer needs to improve on the pronounciation. Although operatic sopranos are not really my cuppa tea, but strong words are.
4- The guitar sound is very solid but the bass was a bit low in the mix. The orchestral arrangements were perfectly mixed and the scores were pretty tight, grand, epic and compelling. The pianos were crazy and being a piano enthusiast my self (although I cant play) I appreciate the effort. The drum was perfectly mixed with the bass drums were a bit high in the mix but I guess it served its purpose of pushing the songs forward with its speed. There is a simple but functional solo in Never Ending Epic which I really like.
5- All in all, Kazanna is a very very promising Malaysian band. And hopefully with all the good words I've put into reviewing their stuff, I will be lucky enough to date the singer. Haha. Check them out if you like Nightwish and Within Temptation. I seriously recommend this. If you wanna try a Malaysian brand of sumphonic metal and I suggest you go out and look for this.
