The melodic metal project Her Chariot Awaits brings the respected Spanish vocalist Ailyn (Ailyn Giménez, former member of Norwegian goth-metal group Sirenia) together with the impressive American guitarist and producer Mike Orlando (Adrenaline Mob) to provide the explorative centrum to develop a conjugation of ideas and talent (with a bedrock of reliability from studio drummer Jeff Thal and bassist Brian Gearty) into something that’s more than harmonization and synergistic interaction: the Her Chariot Awaits project (self-titled album due May 22, 2020 via Frontiers Records S.R.L. ) is also a symbiosis of insights and intentions.
So Ailyn moves to heavier territory: “ [this has allowed me] to experiment and explore a new side to my singing, working together with a great musician...”
While Orlando moves away from alt-metal and into the operatic/symphonic realm: “Ailyn’s […] music is geared more towards the commercial side of rock. Ailyn has a beautiful voice and was great to work with…”
‘Dead & Gone‘ is an expansive exercise in dexterity and eloquence with Ailyn’s sharp clarinet voice never weakened by the proliferations of supercharged melopeia from her band-mates. If you thought commercial rock had to be spiritless or systematized, think again: this is evocative and transformative.
Their version of k.d. Lang’s ‘Constant Craving’ has a diaphanous beauty. The rhythms in this piece are phenomenal and the self harmonized voices are nothing short of miraculous. This is multi-layered and of course barely metallic; Still, the subtle, meticulously performed labyrinthine guitars are a heady delight.
‘Take Me Higher’ is slightly more matter-of-course, with thumping pace, expeditious guitar and an exultant voice. This is energetic enough, true — and we guess it will please recuperating sirenians as much as it will pleasantly surprise alt-metal mobsters — but we wish it had been more originative and expressionistic. When you compare it, for example, with the album opener ‘Misery’ that has hellbent bass notes, thundershowers of guitar, desperate claws of hoarfrost cold voice and a bacchanal abundance of epiphanic musicality, it seems a poor relation.
Nonetheless, this is a sophisticated & inventive partnership that bring superlative sounds that are filled with the kind of textures and flavors that will suit Exit Eden / Visions of Atlantis fans and are expertly tailored to the whims of any power-melody / operatic-oomph aficionado who seeks symphonic majesty countered with tempting riffery and long streamers of carbide guitar.
