Grooved out symphony of the night in gothic lettering
Since the 2000s symphonic and gothic metal has prospered immensely with bands like Nightwish, Evanescence, Within Temptation, Epica and Sirenia at the helm. Like with any trend, this wave of female fronted pseudo-gothic bands has spawned hundreds of bands that try to copy their sound and image.
Denyall is a band that, at first glance, could be just about any other of these bland diva bands. While their songtitles certainly imply the same, it is at first listen clear that they're doing something different. Bands like Within Temptation and Nightwish have a rather melancholic and melodramatic sound to them, but Denyall seems more haunting.
Denyall is a band that, at first glance, could be just about any other of these bland diva bands. While their songtitles certainly imply the same, it is at first listen clear that they're doing something different. Bands like Within Temptation and Nightwish have a rather melancholic and melodramatic sound to them, but Denyall seems more haunting.
"The tracks all fit together perfectly without any major deviation from the overall style, yet it doesn't become stale or uncreative."
What really makes Denyall stand out from the veritable hordes of gothic diva bands is the utilisation of harsher vocal styles, not entirely unlike groups like Battlelore. For a demo the production is better than one would expect, and even though it contains just 3 songs for a total playtime of 11 minutes and 46 seconds, all these songs are very well-composed and nicely put together. The tracks all fit together perfectly without any major deviation from the overall style, yet it doesn't become stale or uncreative. They utilize a minimal amount of keyboards, thusly not falling into the pit of overly keyboard-dominated symphonic metal like so many others. The guitars actually play some memorable riffs once in a while but still maintain a certain level of groove and heaviness.
Denyall represents the fact that not all symphonic/gothic bands are talentless hacks. This 3 song demo is filled with great song structures and well thought out tracks. Normally I wouldn't even consider listening to symphonic metal, especially not female-fronted ones. These bands tend to all sound the same, but Denyall manages to steer away from the typical concepts of what is gothic metal.
7/10
Released in 2008 independently
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