19 March 2024

Amaranthe – Helix

[schema type=”review” name=”Amaranthe – Helix” description=”Label: Spinefarm Records” author=”Tim Will” pubdate=”2018-10-18″ ]

Before accepting this review I had no real idea about who Amaranthe was. My only exposure to the band was that song they covered on Powerwolf’s latest album, which I liked fine. One quick ask around my friends revealed that they’re one of those really divisive bands; some people really like them, some really despise them. But as a person whose music taste ranges from Gloryhammer to Vulvodnya, I thought I’d be able give an opinion that is a bit more down the middle road. Also they’re touring with Powerwolf (one of my favorite bands) right now, so how bad can they possibly be?

After some Google searching, I learned that they’re unique in the sense that they actually have three vocalists on stage; one male, one female singer and one for the growls, and that they also incorporate a lot of electronic sounds and samples.

Well, that at least sounds like an interesting concept for a metal band.
After listening to the first few songs on their new album “Helix”, I also get that exact vibe from them: an interesting concept, that’s unfortunately not fully fletched out and not as intriguing as I hoped for. Their biggest problem, in my opinion, is that all the different genre elements they adapt don’t flow as well into each other as they could. Whenever the female vocalist Elize Ryd is singing, I feel like: “Oh, this sounds like symphonic metal”. Whenever the male vocalist Henrik Wilhelmsson is singing I feel like “This sounds kinda like a boy-band, but with metal underneath” and whenever Nils Molin is doing his thing, I feel like: “this is melodeath, or nu-metal with growls”. All of them know their craft and perform it very well, just never to an extent that makes it stand out. Even though the electronic elements are integrated a bit better, I’ve heard it much better from other bands. Even worse, they’re coming off as very pop-ish, which I assume is the intention, but it’s taking away a lot of the harshness of the metal riffs.

While researching I often read the term “Disco-Metal” associated with Amaranthe, but from the way they try to combine all the most popular metal genres (and by “popular” I mean the most financially successful), like power metal, symphonic metal and melodic death metal, then throw a bunch of pop music in the mix, I would rather entitle them as “Pop-Metal”. Metal that’s specifically created to be played in the radio. And although there’s nothing wrong with that (some of my favorite power metal bands are arguably guilty of the same) I realize very quickly, that this band is not for me. Especially after they also start throwing in a load of nu-metal into the mix, in the second half of the album.
Now usually when I can’t get into a band or a new album I still try to find something positive or at least noteworthy to write about. But with this band something weird happened to me. While I was driving home from work the other day, I was listening through the album for the third time, when I suddenly realized: “I don’t wanna listen to this! I’d rather listen to some more Babymetal than listening to any more of this!”

Do you know that feeling, when you have some YouTube video running while working, just somebody mindlessly babbling in the background, but then the algorithm throws some annoying video of some obnoxious YouTuber at you, who constantly yells at the camera for attention, so you turn it off after ten seconds? … Yea, this is what listening to this feels like to me!
That’s a new experience to me. Usually when I don’t like a band that much, I just don’t mind them. I’ll let it play in the background or listen to a popular song once in a while. But listening to “Helix” actively annoys me and makes me roll my eyes at it.

And honestly I can’t really tell why, technically all the right ingredients for me to like it are there. I like power metal, I like symphonic metal and I enjoy experimental styles. But while these elements are there, none of them are really used to their full potential. Maybe that’s exactly what annoys me so much: The potential for something great is there, but all the experimental eagerness is thrown out and replaced with the pop sound to pander down to the broadest possible demographic.

Reading all of this back, I do sound pretty harsh, but not everything here is bad. The production quality is high and sleek and as stated before, all the musicians know their craft and play/sing on a very high level. It’s just the combination and the pop-pandering that kills it for me. But just because it’s not for me, doesn’t mean it’s for nobody. Like I said, I have friends who enjoy Amaranthe and I can totally see this being a gateway-drug into the world of metal for young listeners. So if you have friends or young ones who aren’t into metal yet, I don’t see any harm in playing this to them. But if you are a veteran metalhead, you probably won’t find much to sink your teeth into here.

1. The Score
2. 365
3. Inferno
4. Countdown
5. Helix
6. Dream
7. GG6
8. Breakthrough Stardust
9. My Haven
10. Iconic
11. Unified
12. Momentum

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