Time Signature The living end...

Genre: gothic metal

Ava Inferi are a gothic metal band who also draw on doom metal (in many ways gothic metal is the bastard love child of doom metal and gothic rock anyway) and progressive rock. "Onyx" is the first Ava Inferi album I have heard (so I'm not really a huge fan), and I am not disappointed.

It is true that female vocals has sort of become a yardstick feature of gothic metal (to the extent that even non-gothic female fronted metal is considered gothic metal by many), and personally I think that a lot of these bands sound clichéd and generic - especially because the female vocalists all tend to make use of the same style of singing.

I think that Ava Inferi are different from the mainstream female fronted gothic metal acts of today. Firstly, Carmen Susana Simões' vocals have a certain original quality to them, which contributes an eerie melancholic feel to the album as well as a dark epic sensibility. Secondly, the music itself is interesting - not so much in the overall picture, but it contains a lot of little details and effects here and there. Repetition characterizes the compositions on this album, and, while, some might consider this a result of lack of imagination on part of the musicians, I think that it contributes to the overall atmospheric feel of the album, and there can be no doubt that the level of musicianship is very high. The repetitive nature of the compositions also make the above-mentioned little details stand out even more. Thirdly, Ava Inferi being a Norwegian/Portuguese project, I like how the band manages to capture and combine the melancholic feel that characterizes a lot of both Scandinavian and Portuguese traditional music, and this is one of the features that make Ava Inferi's music more interesting (to me at least) than what most other modern gothic metal artists churn out.

"Onyx" probably does not appeal to fans of extreme and aggressive metal, but I think that fans of gothic metal and doom metal might appreciate it, and I can imagine that it will also appeal to many fans of gothic rock and more melancholic progressive rock. On the whole, I think it is a very well crafted album.

J-Man By Candlelight and Mirrors...

In today's metal scene, female-fronted gothic acts are unbelievably plentiful. Try as you might, hearing even half of all of these bands is about as likely as drowning on dry land. Thus, picking which of these innumerable acts to spend your hard-earned cash on can be a challenge, even for an experienced veteran in the genre. Although there are a handful of superb female-fronted gothic metal bands out there, far too many are content with sounding clichéd and just like the hordes of identical bands on the scene. Ava Inferi has created a decent album with Onyx, but this doesn't do anything to stand out from the crowd, and it actually sounds a bit dull at times. This isn't a bad album by any means, but it's severely lacking in powerful and memorable moments. Fans of gothic metal may want to check this out, as it's a professional and high-quality release, but in the end, I'm not too impressed.

Onyx is a gothic/atmospheric/doom album with touches of progressive rock. While that sounds like something I may enjoy, the songwriting is surprisingly dull and unimaginative. I'm not hearing any really powerful moments throughout Onyx, and despite some standout moments here and there, they are too few and far between to hold my attention. Ava Inferi's latest effort just doesn't move me in any way, and that's ultimately the crippling factor here. Despite the almost unquestionable quality of material here, it doesn't strike a single emotional chord inside of me. Songs like the title track or especially "Venice In Frog" are pretty enjoyable, but I daresay that the rest of the album is downright boring. Sorry guys, but even a stellar Dan Swanö production and sleek musicianship can't save this for me.

Conclusion:

Onyx isn't an album that impressed me very much, though I think that fans of gothic doom metal may want to give it a spin. This is a polished, professional, and high-quality product, but it just doesn't move me at all. I hate to rate albums like this - Ava Inferi has created a decent CD here, but when it comes to my own personal enjoyment (or lack thereof), this just isn't something that I'll put on often. I'll go with 2.5 stars in this case, though fans of the band can easily add another star.