amberian dawn- clouds of northland thunder. this is the second album of the finnish symphonic metal band, 'amberian dawn'. their 2008 release 'river of tuoni' was a great find. letting you know beforehand, all lyrics deal with various mythologies.
1.he sleeps in a grove
similar to what they did on 'river of tuoni'. i can't actually make out changes in their sound. it is very much a continuation of their previous work. they released a music video for this song if you want to check it out. heidi has a unique voice but one is inevitably reminded of nightwish's tarja. the guitar solos are possibly better than what one found on their debut album, but i can't really recall at the moment.
2.incubus
features both male and female vocals (i'm not sure who the male singer is-- he's not that great). the chorus is a chance for heidi to boast of her voice. this is the longest song of the album, though there isn't too much going on in terms of song structure. a decent effort.
3.kokko- eagle of fire
a splendid power metal track. the chorus has a hook that keeps you listening. it's a short song, like most of the album, but it's succint. no filler.
4.willow of tears
a ballad. i wish there was more to say, but other than a good post-chorus riff and the solo, there's not much to it.
5.shallow waters
a good intro and a strong verse. a big improvement over the previous song. the drums are actively contributing to the song, noticeably in the chorus, which is in itself quite enjoyable. an instrumental break between the solos gives some much needed creativity to their song structures.
6.lost soul
another lead guitar hook opens the song. the backing vocals are what make the chorus. here is the first keyboard solo of the album (why'd it take so long?).
7.sons of seven stars
this songs follows the same formula as the previous 4 or 5 songs. the only thing that really changes are chord progressions, choruses, and solos. don't get me wrong, it's a good song, i'd expect greater variation in songs.
8.saga
a more exciting verse and a better intro lead help amend some of the aforementioned problems. a great solo that covers a lot of ground really helps this song stick out.
9.snowmaiden
what we hear in the last few seconds of the song, a piano and a spoken sentence, is exactly what amberian dawn needs more of. something other than just a good chorus.
10.lionheart
symphonic opening. lyrics involving something epic. a really good vocal line in the chorus. this song does have a good amount of excitement and variation in the backing keyboards to prevent boredom.
11.morning star
the melody in the verse is really the core of this song, and the atmospheric backing keys are also good.
12.birth of the harp
slight use of a piano, but no harp. a slower ballad song, much better than 'willow of tears'.
'clouds of northland thunder' is at the most at least as good as their debut 'river of tuoni'. at worst it's a step in the wrong direction. it has great intro leads/chorus riffs, but there's more to a song than that. the guitar solos are great. still, it sounds uninspired. it's not as catchy. it's short, circa 45 min. at times its monotonous and predictable. they really should have taken more time with it and put more care into crafting it. i suspect that the record label rushed them into pumping out another album after they hit success with the debut release.
