Album Details

• Artist: Lyriel
• Album: Leverage
• Label: AFM Records
• Year of Release: 2012
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: solitaryman on 2012-06-12

Another in a glut of German rock/metal acts I've come across lately, Lyriel are a 7-piece hard rock/metal act (who somehow manage to sound like a quartet throughout much of the album) who lean slightly on some folk influences and heavily on a streamlined, pop-oriented songwriting formula. Now, nothing I've said to this point such be taken as an insult, but if you perhaps perceived it as such, then you should already know Leverage probably isn't a record you'd be interested in.

The band is fronted by one Jessica Thierjung, whose moody melodies will bring to mind the likes of Amy Lee or, perhaps more apt in comparison, Sarah Jezebel Diva (of Cradle of Filth). Her voice is front and center for the majority of Leverage, which certainly isn't a bad thing as she's more than capable as a vocalist for this blend of hard rock. The problem with Leverage is, more than anything, an uninspired bunch of songs that never really go anywhere. Their folk and Celtic influences, played up in their press kit, do show up moderately throughout but never feel like more than a gimmick; a clever guise to add gloss to what is otherwise a fairly bland affair. Few songs registered anything more than impatience in me, but the duet with Jessica and a male accompanying vocalist on the also well-written "Wenn Die Engel Fallen" struck me as either great despite of the monotony surrounding it, or beacuse of the monotony. Either way, it's the only moment throughout Leverage's 10 songs that caught my attention in any positive manner.

The music is flat, Apocalyptica (without the excellent classical elements) flavored Evanescence worship that, beyond not appealing to me as a genre, has very little to recommend it to anyone who might. It's not the worst example of this sort of music I've come across, but it certainly doesn't deserve any attention beyond die-hard lovers of female-fronted...pop-metal. With standard classical nonsense wrapped around it to give it an air of "sophistication". I'm not so easily swayed, but maybe you will be. To each their own.

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