adg211288 Enlighten (2013) is the debut full-length studio album by Italian symphonic metal act Sleeping Romance. The release is a concept album that, in the band's words, deals with " a travel into the human soul who is crashing into the world: fighting, loving and to be born again".

Sleeping Romance play a brand of symphonic metal which by this stage is all too familiar to both those who like this sort of music and those who don't. Epic arrangements, heavy guitars, female vocals and a tendency to stray into power metal territory. Fortunately for Sleeping Romance they showcase on their debut that unlike many artists in this particular game that they know how to do things right. The symphonic elements are extremely powerful, the riffs varied between full on power metal speed and more mid to slower paced stuff, and the music is also much less openly pop inclined than acts like The Murder of my Sweet or Within Temptation can be.

Most importantly they allow their vocalist Federica Lanna full control of the songs rather than forcing the spotlight to be shared with a growler. Her voice didn't click with me straight away though I must admit, although I had been won over by her performance on Enlighten well before the album's end. Sometimes it does seem that she lacks power compared to the Tarja Turunen's and Floor Jansen's of the symphonic metal world, but I came to the conclusion that this is simply because unlike most female singers in this kind of band Federica Lanna doesn't focus on singing in an operatic soprano style, tending to keep things more restrained, yet no less suited to the music behind her. I've been quite captivated by her performance after getting into it actually; despite those early doubts I'm confident that Sleeping Romance have the right singer for the music here.

The album is clearly at its most epic when the instrumentalists of the group, who are led by guitarist Federico Truzzi (who also does the orchestration rather than have a full time keyboardist in the line-up), go into power metal mode. There's something about the speed of a power metal rhythm paired with such authentic symphonic sounds as those Sleeping Romance use that really hits the spot with me. Unfortunately Enlighten can't be called a symphonic power metal album despite those power metal elements appearing in several songs including the title track, which becomes one of the album's early highlights, among which I'd also include Finding My Way and December Flower. Although the latter of these isn't power metal infused, showing that the band does have the ability to be amazing without it. Sleeping Romance saves the best of the until near the very end though with the epic Devil's Cave, a perfect showcase of exactly what I mean about the band being at their very best when drawing on the power metal. In short they're great without the power metal, but they could be really amazing if they put even more of it in.

Although I wasn't won over by Enlighten at first the album quickly put me in my place and left me very impressed with it. Somehow this year I seem to have inadvertently missed the more straight up symphonic metal acts, which despite the often strong power metal elements is ultimately the area Sleeping Romance falls into, and I can safely say that of all the album's to bring symphonic metal back into my life in 2013, I landed on a damn fine one. An exceptional grade rating is deserved for a frankly quite charming release.

92/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/sleeping-romance-enlighten-t3196.html)