Dangerdog Music Reviews :: © 1999 - 2023 Craig S Hartranft :: All Rights Reserved
No part of this this website, including design and music reviews,
may be reproduced in any form or by any means without
the prior written permission of the publisher.
- New Music Reviews
- |
- Archives
- |
- News
- |
- Submissions
- |
- About
- |
- |
New Music Reviews, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Progressive Rock, Progressive Metal, AOR, Alternative Rock, Alternative Metal
Recent Reviews
March 2023
- Excalion: Once Upon A Time
- RPWL: Crime Scene
- Transworld Identity: Seven Worlds
- Stormwarning: Stormwarning
- Phantom Elite: Blue Blood
- Narnia: Ghost Town
- Redemption: I Am The Storm
- Cross Country Driver: The New Truth
- The Banishment: Machine And Bone
- Seventh Crystal: Wonderland
- Demons Down: I Stand
February 2023
- Air Raid: Fatal Encounter
- Robin McAuley: Alive
- Creye: III - Weightless
- All My Shadows: Eerie Monsters
- First Signal: Face Your Fears
- Gabrielle de Val: Kiss In A Dragon Night
- We Came From Space: Overlords
- T3nors: Naked Soul
- Wig Wam: Out Of The Dark
- Khymera: Hold Your Ground
- Infinite & Divine: Ascendancy
- eMolecule: The Architect
January 2023
- Girish & The Chronicles: Back On Earth (Reissue)
- Arctic Rain: Unity
- Electric Mob: 2 Make U Cry & Dance
- Crowne: Operation Phoenix
- Ronnie Romero: Raised On Heavy Radio
- Ten: Something Wicked This Way Comes
- Riverside: ID.Entity
- Issa: Lights Of Japan
- Heroes And Monsters: Heroes And Monsters
- Big City: Sunwind Sails
December 2022
- NY Fury: I Want It All
- Tommy DeCarlo: Dancing In The Moonlight
- Tarmat: Out Of The Blue
- Scream Maker: Bloodking
- Sabu: Banshee
- Rob Moratti: Epical
- Nevena: Nevena
- Landfall: Elevate
- After Lapse: Face The Storm
Cardiant: Verge
Cardiant: Verge
Melodic Metal
4.0/5.0
Website
Facebook
YouTube
Inverse Records
by Craig Hartranft, 05.09.2013
Here's a surprisingly interesting and entertaining metal band: Finland's Cardiant with their third album, Verge. One thing that captures your interest is that they blend several genres into their sound. The larger category is melodic metal, but the band offers more than this.
Cardiant:: looking up.
There's a distinct rock groove underneath most every song here. Yet, there's also classic heavy and power metal, with some symphonic and progressive nuances. You'll hear some of the latter within Thought's Inception and Heaven's Calling.
For this album, the band has recruited a female vocalist, Outi Jokinen, for background vocals. But she also gets some lead work, often in duet, as on Ever Since, which compliments Erik Karhatsu's traditional metal vocal style. On the closing piece, While The Ice Is Cold, a soaring anthem, Jokinen gets the primary lead vocals. She clean and smooth style, avoiding the extremes of harsh or operatic vocals common in the genre. Her addition is definitely a compliment to the band's overall style.
The strength of Verge comes early, in the first five songs, and then bottoms out in the middle with Believe, rather flat and fuzzy, and Beat of Heart, which only gets going in the second half of the song. From Love's Not On My Way to the end, things improve quickly with Stranger in Me and the aforementioned While The Ice Is Cold the top tracks. Even with a few bumps, Cardiant delivers some engaging and entertaining melodic metal. Recommended.
Cardiant - Heaven's Calling (Official Video)
In Short
Cardiant's Verge offers engaging and entertaining melodic metal with a strong rock groove and peppered with symphonic and progressive nuances.
Find A Review
Alphabetical Index
Album of the Week
Formed 23 years ago, Finland's Excalion has had a turbulent musical career. Before releasing a trio of albums between 2005 and 2010, they had personnel changes. Currently, only the drummer and keyboard ... [ Read More ]