fter plying her sultry tones in Cradle of Filth, Therion, Covenant, Mortiis and others, Sara Jezebel Deva goes head to head with former Without Face singer Jule Kiss (To-Mera) as ‘famous chick singer from another band now in her own band’, and both have pretty good results.Far more contemporary and orchestral than the more ‘proggy’ To-Mera, Angtoria sounds like what you’d would expect from a singer who has spent time in the above bands and collaborates with Abyssos guitarist Chris Rehn and is helped out by former Cradle of Filth bassist Dave Pybus and keyboard maestro Rikard Andersson (Space Odyssey, Time Requiem); It’s overblown with symphonic grandeur, catchy driving riffs, haughty soprano crooning and the occasional male voice (provided by My Dying Bride’s Aaron Stainthorpe and Moahni Moahna/Zool’s Martin Häggström.

Coming across as a sort of slightly more metal Nightwish, Epica or After Forever, Angtoria’s concept based songs are all solid example of Gothic metal with more of an edge and is generally free from the usual mopey, somber elements of female fronted Gothic metal. That being said, there is the expected ballad by way of ‘The Addiction’ and ‘That’s What the Wise Lady Said’ and the rather odd cover of Kylie Minogue’s ‘Confide In Me’ (which makes sense seeing this is essentially a UK based band and Kylie Minogue is the UK’s Jessica Simpson), which drag the album down a bit.

However, tracks like the ultra catchy ‘I’m Calling’, ‘Do You See Me Now”, standout ‘Hell Hath No Fury Like a Woman Scorned’, ‘Original Sin’ (featuring Stainthorpe’s welcome growl) show that Deva is more than just a background singer capable of atmospheric ‘ooooooooooo’s and ‘ahhhhhhhhh’s.

All that being said, and despite all the talent of this almost supergroup, Angtoria is little more than merely a highly polished, satisfying female fronted symphonic metal romp that never really breaks away from the pack of aforementioned bands.

[Visit the band's website]

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