Dying Passion - Voyage

Year of Release: 2002
Label: Metal Breath
Catalog Number: MB 008-2
Format: CD
Total Time: 46:05:00

Dying Passion is a melodic metal band from the Czech Republic with female vocals and touches of shouting male and death vocals in about half the songs. They have released three discs - No Time (1999), Secretly (2000) and Voyage (2002).

I have not heard No Time, which was actually a demo, but on Secretly and Voyage Dying Passion play heavy, catchy, melodic metal with progressive touches. The arrangements are primarily upbeat and energetic with crunchy guitars and hard-hitting bass and drums, along with beautiful clean guitar and flute-driven melodies. Though straight-forward and accessible, the song-writing is very melodic and engaging, with a nice variety in the riffs and melodies of each song.

The female vocals are excellent. Their vocalist, Zuzana, has a unique expressive musical style that's unlike anyone else I know of singing in a metal band. She is smooth, soaring and flowing and, along with the prominent flute, provides most of the melody in the songs, yet she has a plaintive, almost bluesy, aggressive edge that adds a surprising bite to the beautiful melodies. Though some of her vocal melodies are a bit poppy, most of them have a distinct but still accessible complexity, in the sense of time / tempo changes in her melodies, which gives the songs a slightly progressive feel. About half the songs feature shouted male vocals and two or three have touches of mild death vocals.

Dying Passion reminds me of a more progressive Lacuna Coil, though I find Dying Passion's song-writing and Zuzana's vocal delivery much more exciting and interesting. Their previous CD, Secretly, is equally as strong as Voyage - both are highly recommended for fans of female-fronted melodic metal.

Similar to: Lacuna Coil

Also released by Black Wind Records (BWR00003)

[This review originally appeared January 2003 at the ProgPower Online review site -ed.]
Tracklisting:
On The Road / Microcosmos / I Have No Doubt / Autumn Poet / Pilgrimage / Hot Breath Of Night / Reed / Severance / Last Moment / Inner Self / A White Dream

Musicians:
Zuzana Lipova - vocals
Standa Jelinek - guitar
Jarda Routil - guitar
Standa Pavlik - bass
Veronika Skrottova - flute
Zdenek Smesny -drums ?

Discography:
No Time (1999)
Secretly (2000)
Voyage (2002/2003)
Sweet Disillusions (2004)

Genre: Melodic Metal

Origin CZ

Added: December 13th 2004
Reviewer: Chris Mitchell
Score:
Artist website: www.dyingpassion.com
Hits: 2636
Language: english