Metal Bulletin Zine: Anthea - melodic prog power from California, U.S.

Anthea

Tales Untold

August 26th, 2022

Rockshots Records

Anthea (2015-present) has an EP in 2017, the debut album in 2020, and this new one (10 songs in 45 minutes). The California, U.S. band features, broadly speaking, a type of melodic songwriting that relies on the groove and keyboards for the skeleton of the tunes, while pushing to the forefront the guitar solos and especially the singing to make it memorable for the listener. The melodic singing is in the male midrange/upper midrange; melodic, strong, pleasant, without annoying traits. There are some higher passages, but they are brief, not abundant and with the voice controlled. The music is a balance between melodic, prog and rocking. It is not headbanging, but it’s not super proggy. Al the songs stay within 3-5 minutes. Most importantly, the songs have hooks and should not need more than a couple of listens to reveal themselves. On the other hand, they use some growling as a secondary vocal element, and here and there, the band launches into some headbanging moments, melodeath moments.

As is, the album is a strong statement and audiences into bands like Evergrey, Kamelot or Symphony X would enjoy it, one would think. The differences might be two: Anthea certainly sounds more youthful than those bands; and the second issue is the growling, which those other bands do not use as a part of their overall sound. Trivia: The last song is called “In Time,” a very nice Robbi Rob cover, the song from 1989’s Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.

The album can go from mellow or melancholic songs like “Memoriam” and “In Time” to uptempo material like “Empyrean.” That’s a wide spectrum, especially for people not used bands with such a range of songs. Picky listeners opposed to metal with a pop music production will probably not like the synth/keyboards-happy neosymphonics. The drum sounds will not impress those strict listeners, either, given the soft, flaccid, plastic feel of the drum sampling/programming. The last potential problem is the growling. It is melodeath growling, and audiences against all growling will most likely not approve. In truth, the band would sound just fine without the growling, including for the fast, headbanging segments, which can be carried by the strength of the melodic voice (Can the singer carry these tunes for real in a concert or is it auto-tune/effects?). If the band were to eliminate the growling (which is competent), their appeal, with the right marketing, would open up considerably, as demonstrated by their cover of “In Time,” which is better than the original if the listener prefers a more ro-bust voice with more horsepower, as it were, and also with more energy.