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Chaos Magic: Chaos Magic

Melodic Hard Rock/Metal

4.5/5.0

Facebook (Caterina Nix)
Frontiers Music
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 02.07.2015

They way I see it, you have three choices, three reasons to buy the debut album of Chaos Magic, and the first two don't count. First, you could buy it because it's on the Frontiers Music label, well-known for delivering consistently fine AOR, melodic hard rock and melodic metal. Second, you could buy Chaos Magic because it features exceptional musician, songwriter, and producer Timo Tolkki. Nah.

Caterina Nix

Or, lastly, you could buy Chaos Magic because it features the smokin' hot Chilean singer Caterina Nix. Oh yeah. Okay fellas, here's your Wayne and Garth "schwing" moment.

But seriously, she's quite the talent. Nix has been singing from an early age, being classically and popular music trained, and performing in bands before this engagement. You might recall her for appearing on Tolkki's Avalon’s second album, entitled Angels of the Apocalypse, where she shared lead vocal duties. But with Chaos Magic, she's now the frontrunner. Nix displays her exceptional soprano range across songs that blur between melodic hard rock and melodic heavy metal, often in a symphonic context.

The range and flexibility of her voice is rather impressive. Nix easily moves from the rock/metal singer as with I'm Alive or The Point of No Return to the more operatic with From The Stars or Please Don't Tell Me, the quietest song here. It seems the more dramatic or bombastic the arrangement is Ms. Nix rises to the occasion. Notable is her voice within Seraphim, a song that reaches for the epic symphonic power metal sound and succeeds. It's hard to favor a particular style to her vocal expression as she applies the proper voice to each song. Yet, I favored her expression in the songs having more groove, where her voice followed both the melody and that groove. I'm Alive and especially A Little Too Late come to mind. Not forgetting Tolkki, he supplies the usual talents, notably his abundance of riffs and soaring leads. However, at the beginning of both Right Now and The Point of No Return his guitar has a similar, almost redundant, sharp tone. Nevertheless, it's all good. Caterina Nix is an exceptional rock and metal vocalist, and the songs of Chaos Magic are a fine platform for her expression. When you stop drooling over her photo, go buy the album. Easily recommended (the album that is, not the drooling).

Chaos Magic - I'm Alive

Note: All Amazon advertising in this review first benefits the artist, then Craig Hartranft also receives a residual. Click, and thanks for your support.

Caterina Nix is an exceptional rock and metal vocalist, and the songs of Chaos Magic are a fine platform for her expression. When you stop drooling over her photo, go buy the album. Easily recommended.

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Three years have passed since Sweden's Cruzh dropped their second long-player, Tropical Thunder, also introducing their new singer, Alex Waghorn. Now the band returns with The Jungle Revolution ... [ Read More ]