A WAR OF OUR OWN

Holland based band STREAM OF PASSION released their debut album 10 years ago at the time of writing, back then more or less a side project for Ayreon main man Arjen Lucassen. He parted ways with this project following their debut album, and the band have continued on since then with a further three studio albums to their name. "A War of Our Own" is the most recent of these, and was self released by the band in 2014 following a successful funding campaign.

The name of the game for this particular band resides somewhere within the symphonic metal, Gothic metal and progressive metal triangle, the band utilizing aspects from all three of those styles in their compositions. On this latest production the emphasis is on fairly short creations, the greater majority of the tracks clock in at 5 minutes or less, and the longest one is a mere 6 minutes long. This description as seen from a progressive metal point of view of course, where it's not all that uncommon to encounter compositions stretching into the 10 and 15 minute range.

Throughout this very well produced album you soon get a feel for a certain formula being applied. We get a delicate or a bombastic opening sequence, the verse parts have a tendency to dampen the instrumentation, the chorus section is majestic and dramatic, while the transitions tends to give more room to the guitarists. In more detail the verse sections tends to feature effective use of piano details supplementing delicate symphonic arrangements and toned down guitar details, with massive riffs and grandiose symphonic cascades hitting it for the chorus. Fairly often with transitional sequences as a build up to the chorus section.

In terms of sound and style there's a good and effective contrast between dark, ominous guitar sounds and light toned digital strings that is a key feature throughout, and when the guitarists are given the limelight they tend to use it to add a further emphasis to the darker and at times menacing sounds this instrument can produce. As far as symphonic metal goes, Stream of Passion have opted for an expression with bite, edge and punch on this occasion. There are riffs and guitar motifs here many metal bands would give an arm and leg to have uncovered themselves. The lead vocals is a key element of course, and vocalist Marcela Bovio is a top performer. She has a strong and controlled voice with operatic qualities, and use her vocals well to add drama and emotion to the proceedings.

Personally I'd select Earthquake and Out of the Darkness as the album highlights, to my ears both of these compositions feature subtle details that adds an additional sparkle to the proceedings. But this is a high quality production through and through, and I'd hazard a guess that this is one of those CD's where each of the individual tracks will have been singled out as personal favorites by someone as all of them feature some aspect that makes them different from the others, even if it is more of a minute detail.

If you tend to enjoy bands described as symphonic or Gothic metal, Stream of Passion's "A War of Our Own" can be considered a safe purchase, those who like this kind of music will get everything they want here on an album that is of high quality through and through. Those fond of bands of this type exploring material of a darker and at times menacing nature will probably be those who enjoy this production more than others, especially if they don't mind some progressive metal oriented details thrown into the mix.