Search - Ebony Ark :: When City Is Quiet

Quality fem fronted product

Paul Lawrence | Australia | 04/14/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Enticed by a glowing review in Powerplay magazine I forked out the cash for this album by French band Ebony Ark. The music is I suppose more in the hard rock and metal sphere than anywhere else though that's sad as I'm sure many mainstream people would appreciate the gentle passages many of the tunes contain not to mention the plaintive vocals of Beatriz Albert who has a voice which can at times fairly drip with sorrow seemingly at will.



Many of the tunes are relatively atmospheric and fans of female fronted metal will find plenty to admire here as many of the tunes are guitar driven and a whole range of lyrical concerns are addressed. Though perhaps, once again, more mainstream fans of female vocal music would also enjoy this stuff rather than the endless 'he loves me, he loves me not' fare they have to put up with. And it goes without saying goths will probably lap this up from the cover art to the last note. Speaking of notes, as I said this is guitar driven stuff and there are some uses of rougher male vocals in a few of the tunes and as befits this kind of music there are a bunch of keyboard and studio tricks employed to craft the album.



Production is as you'd expect fairly flawless and clear but unlike many other bands within their time and space Ebony Ark have managed to produce a clean sounding record that doesn't small as sanitised as your local hospital. Which is nice as coldly clinical techno clatter grates fairly quickly and at times repels its audience. The package includes lyrics to the whole shebang and certainly numbers sung in French are pretty rare in my CD collection, so the number 'A merced de la lluvia' was an enjoyable novelty for this listener, not that I have any idea what they are singing about. And that's not a dis, after all in Doros' Fur Immer I've only a vague idea what she is on about too!



Take a chance if you can afford to on this nicely achieved slice of atmospheric wattage that washes over you. 4.5 stars here dear readers!"