Genre: Melodic Heavy Metal
Country: Portugal
In parallel with Moonshade, Daniel Laureano leads the project A Constant Storm and introduces its second full length album titled “Lava Empire”. Even though the roots of the band are in Death metal, this album is more experimental, as it is oriented a bit more towards melodic and modern heavy metal.
The sense that the listener gets when navigating through the ten tracks of the album is different each time. The choral and orchestral “Lava Empire” gives the first taste of the album to the listener. In the “Hollow Days” that follows, the clean vocals are combined nicely with the growls (reference to the musical roots), but the melody is the element that prevails mostly (Pedro’s keyboards do make the difference). “Pendulum Heart” is a catchy song, with nice riffs, a track written by a guitarist for guitarists! It is also the first track where the growl vocals are more dominant than the clean ones.
The “Pyramid at Sunset” that follows is my favourite of the album, even though some would say that it is not a metal track. I really enjoyed the combination of acoustic guitar and keyboards. It gave me the feeling of what is described in its title: A travel to Egypt, looking at the pyramids at sunset. Whoever has been there knows what I’m talking about.
The “Babylonian Complex” is a song that defines the album in its entirety, as the melodic start is followed by the growl vocals and death/thrash rhythm. In other words, it combines the roots of the band along with the ongoing melodic experiment, whereas the “Atlantis”, another acoustic song, is used as a step for the “Draconian Trials” that gives a touch of modern heavy metal, combined with a ballad at the end. The highlight of the acoustic part of the track are Ines’s vocals that give a nice, atmospheric touch.
The “Blood Moon” seems more like an intro to the “Pinnnboard”, another heavy metal song, that is the second to last song of the album before the “Glory to the Sun”, a song with country(!) elements.
In the Lava Empire, Daniel is experimenting with a music genre that is different than “Storm Alive”. It is for sure though that the album consists a breakthrough, combining the previous extreme metal with the contemporary melodic identity, creating a nice combination that will please the fans of all metal genres.
7/10
Tracklist
- Lava Empire
- Hollow Days (My probation)
- Pendulum Heart
- Pyramid at Sunset
- Babylonian Complex
- Atlantis
- Draconian Trials
- Blood Moon
- Pinnnboard
- Glory to the Sun
Band Members
Daniel Laureano – Lead Vocals, Electric & Acoustic Guitars, Bass, Drums, Keys
Pedro Quelhas – Virtual Orchestration, Additional Keys, Additional Drums
Ricardo Pereira – Harsh Vocals, Male Choirs
Inês Rento – Soprano Vocals, Female Choirs
Mini Bio
A Constant Storm is a project founded and led by Daniel Laureano (Moonshade) in 2013 and based in Porto, Portugal. “Lava Empire” is their second full length album after “Storm Alive”, in 2016.
Contact
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aconstantstorm/
Bandcamp: https://aconstantstorm.bandcamp.com/
E-mail: aconstantstorm@gmail.com
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