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Summary Letter From The Editor 4 Interview 5 Branca Ferrazo 6 Dianne Van Giersbergen 11 Sacrificium 17 Sacrifice my Beating Heart 18 Discovering the Shador 21 The Other Version of Me 24 With or Without You: Being an Author 26 Social Watch 28 My experience with asexuality 29 Hollow 32 Art In Movement 33 Book Review 37 Music To My Ears: Fire & Ashes, Xandria 41
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Dianne Van Giersbergen (Xandria)
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Interview: Dianne Van Giersbergen
Simona Mihalca: Hello and welcome to Bucharest. We would like to ask you about your upcoming EP, “Fire & Ashes” . What can you tell us about it? Dianne Van Giersbergen: First of all, it’s gonna be awsome! I had so much fun recording this EP. We have three new songs, two remakes of old Xandria songs (Ravenheart, Now & Forever) and also two covers: one of Meatloaf, „I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that”. This was my favourite song. I’ve been listening to it since I was a little child and I love it. We have a cover of Sonata Arctica called „Don’t Say a Word”. We toured with them in America for 6-7 weeks, so for us it’s very special to make a cover of their songs. S.M: How did you choose the songs you would cover or re-record? Dianne: Ravenheart, of course, is Xandria bigget hit and then we had a couple of songs we played live for a while and we felt these were the best ones of those because we had the best crowd reaction and we really want ed to give this a little bit of new texture, a new mix that we could keep perform and it would still fix to Neverworld and Sacrificium music. S.M: Where does the theme of Fire, present both in the album and EP come from? Dianne: The artwork of „Fire & Ashes” is inspired of Sacrificium. I’ve seen people say it looks alike and that’s on purpose because we really want to give like a bonus CD in the middle of two albums so this one is very much releated to Sacrificium. I think we all have a lot of fire in us, so why not use fire in the artwork. 12
S.M: I saw you just announced the creation of a Xandria Streetteam and I think our readers would like to hear more about it. It is something new or it’s somehing you just post it? Dianne: I must admit I think it has been running longer, but we felt that it was the right time to post because we have the EP coming out. Did I mention it’s coming out on 31 of July? Very important. I think this is a good time for us to really gain fans, to join a lot of fans in our promotion and I think people are up for this. If I had a band of which I’d be a real fan and I can help them promote so that whenever they came to town I had a chance to get on a guestlist, oh well I’d do that.
S.M: Which song of yours do you think is the hardest to be sung? Dianne: Of Sacrificium?! I don’t know if any song is hard to sing because, if it was really hard to sing, it meant I didn’t study enough. Songs are challenging to sing. That’s very true. For some songs I need more concentration and on some I can let go. There’s no song I really go into singing like „oh, here we go”. 13
S.M: Do you enjoy playing older songs? Dianne: Yes! I think it’s a good mixture in the setlist. It’s a very diverse setlist that we can choose from all the albums, but then again, Xandria have chosen for the newer style that first came out with Neverworld’s End and that will always be a main focus. S.M: Do you think the symphonic metal genre is a friendly one or one that could be entered easily? While the fandom usually follows a lot of bands from the genre, rising up to those big names might be a problem. Dianne: Very true! The audience is very loyal. I really love that. Yes and no. I don’t envy anyone, I just admire. I think it should not be about „oh, we should get there” , but about your own creativity and your own motivation to keep on rolling. I think that’s way more important than comparing. I don’t like this comparing. S.M: How is it being in a band where members are from different country? Dianne: It is very nice actually because I can understand when they speak German, but they don’t understand me. S.M: What is the first song that made an impression on you? Dianne: I think it’s Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel.
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S.M: What bands or artists influenced you to become a musician? Dianne: Oh, Tarja of course! That’s very obvious. And Skin from Skunk Anansie. That’s just a wonderful voice. God! What a throat! That’s someone I really admire. I have a lot of people I get inspiration from, the singer from Youth, a very, very intriguing person and Maria Callas, who is classical soprano. S.M: What is your idea of fun? If given a chance to skip work for a day, how would you spend the entire day? Dianne: Crying, I think, because I love my job. I think my idea of fun is getting on stage in an hour. S.M: What is the best gift you’ve ever received? Dianne: I think the best gift I have ever received was my first singing lesson, which I had on my fourth birthday. It was my parents who noticed that I was very influenced by music when I was a little baby, lying in the cradle and whenever they put the music I was silent. I was just a baby listening to music and they never had the chance to have a music education so they thought that the first option we had, she’s going there. I think that’s the best gift.
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Sacrificium
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“…I’d sacrifice my beating heart before I lose you.”
[Shinedown] Sevastin Ruxandra
What does sacrifice mean? The sacrifice is the unconditional love. We often hear people lamenting that they sacrifice many things for others to just to make them happy. The context they are using the idea of sacrifice is totally different from the real one. Unfortunately, for most people the idea of sacrifice has replaced the idea of suffering, anguish or loss. For them sacrifice manifests itself through a material loss or time to something that seems useless and inane. Sacrifice doesn’t equate with that dedication where the answer is not sought, for instance look at your mother who provides constant protection, understanding and love for you though you did something bad. Why is she doing that? Because she loves you, she’s ready to sacrifice anything for you expecting nothing in return. Sacrifice comes up with a motive. We should sacrifice our time or personal pleasures for the one we love without feeling any regrets or the action becomes dry. In other words, if you expect to receive praise as a result of your sacrifice, you did nothing else than to suffer when the applause will never come. If the motivation of sacrifice for someone else comes from within is without pain and without expectation of recognition. You know for sure that sooner or later, his smile and many thanks will come around.
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Are we all capable of sacrifice? No. Unfortunately we live in a world full of contrasts, of hollow souls who are not capable of seeing beyond their ego. No, not all of us are able to sacrifice as we aren’t all able to understand what it means to sacrifice for an ideal. By ideal I mean someone we care deep enough we would be capable giving our beating heart at any time. Empty souls find impossible to do something for another. The fact that they aren’t capable to sacrifice for another has nothing to do with the physical impossibility, but the disinterest of putting their ego aside for one moment it’s not possible. Those who can’t understand the real nature of devotion and sacrifice walk through life barefooted. All guidelines are directed exclusively towards them. If they had to sacrifice a minute to be there for someone they would sacrifice a lifetime. It’s no secret that everybody needs somebody who would do anything to see them happy. Daily I see people who read books about self-realization, the path to success in life, finding the perfect one and other similar messages when all they need is something or someone to be there no matter what. Looking at them I often wonder how much they sacrificed to make others dream come true. He who sacrifices knows that by doing that “I” becomes complete. As I said before, the act is much more important when the one you’re doing it for represents the ideal. Giving your life literally or figuratively to one another is an expression of supreme sacrifice. Thus he who renounces his pleasures to paint a smile on someone else’s face gives a new meaning to the human spirit. He knows he didn’t lose anything.
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Take just a minute and think how would you feel if you had to give your morning coffee, the only coffee you bought, or your favorite shirt with your friend who likes it better than you without asking anything in return, without having second thoughts? Our souls recognize the goodness, sincerity and goodwill. Giving without thinking twice or expecting anything in return is the essence of the supreme sacrifice. Giving unconditional, without further questions, without taking into account if and when the thanks will come, without caring about whether it was worth it or not, whether or not it is a mutual sacrifice, that means to sacrifice you’re beating heart. Ruxandra Sevastin
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Discovering the Shadow
Fae Sapsford
Light does not dare venture this far, and yet there is colour – the abyssal palette; midnight blues, brilliant reds and silvery grays bejewel the barren marine face of mother Earth herself. Pores of sulphur burst from the floor and crustaceans cluster about, clutching at minerals ground from the Earth’s raw core; fiery, poisonous, only fit for these creatures, the last reaches of life, who are almost sludge, but not quite, who live for eons but never know how quickly time at the surface can go. Inches away from the sun, it seems, reef-dwellers revel in flamboyant tomfoolery; with shapes and patterns of impracticality, they are aesthetically pleasing, indeed, but each species lives individually, removed from the realities more courageous fish face; swimming solo for days and starving for weeks, until an appropriate deep water feast drifts down from shallower seas.
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For them, seeing brightness is revelatory. Struck by a bolt of Zeus’ own lightning and caught with eyes open – blinding. Things never before concerns suddenly rear their head and burn to receive answers; most curious among them, the flat, long silhouette of the crab on spindly legs, mirroring its movements, attached all the time to where exoskeleton meets ground, only found with the help of a flashlight. Having no name for the sensation, there is not fear, but wonderment, that this beam would cut through gloom, only to be stopped by the animal’s slim frame, to be blocked from total illumination. And this… ‘shadow’ follows wherever it goes, a permanent friend among endless marine snow. Does the anglerfish ever turn on her light simply to marvel at the bead of brightness? To cast it before her and project shadows on the walls? Does her guard ever fall; missing a fish swim in to her maw because she is watching not it, but its ghoul, the negative space in her light pool? Jagged, oily backs of fishes and the tentacles of octopi, are only distinguished from endless black by a neon blue or greenish hue; smouldering liquid fire, effervescent pearls of colour, whirling about in swell. 22
Light, up to this point, has been a camouflage or lure, a burning of curiosity where waters rest so coolly, but now it is an art display. Vampyroteuthis waves macabre arms in delicate ballet, and gelatinous bodies illuminate in a natural x-ray. If sunlight was not meant to penetrate these depths, to reveal the angles on the face of fishes sifting through the waste, why construct them so ornately? Why inject colour in to their hides and scales? Perhaps it is a comfort to these fish to believe that what impales them in final moments is not a predatory being, is simply the clutches of darkness, or perhaps flecks of light, beckoning them into a further endless night. Fae Sapsford
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The other version of me
Nina Horowitz
To the version of me that I would’ve liked, I hate you. You make me sick. You are the reason that my life is a never-ending competition with my mirror, a battle that I can never win. You, with your uniform curls and big, wide eyes. You, with the porcelain skin left unmarked, untouched. Perfect. You, with the proportionate body and the tiny waist. You... You never let me feel beautiful. When I was seven, you walked into my classroom in front of me, with a confidence that drew everyone’s attention. Yet when they saw my face, theirs reflected disappointed. When I was nine, you tapped the boys on the shoulders with a delicate touch. Yet when they turned and saw me, my only reaction was to run and take cover. When I was twelve, I learned that you were spreading secrets. Not only was the girl in my mirror screwing me up, but she was making sure that others saw me just the way I did. My bedroom became a war zone. My bathroom, a battlefield. I sat in the wreckage holding dead bodies that were other versions of me. And when I looked up, their murderer stood among us. She was you. You made sure that you were the only one left alive, the only one whose heartbeat pounded with life, with vigor, with purpose. Mine was a fragile thud, like a bird that hit the bars on its cage just a little too hard. When I got to high school, I changed my mirror. I thought that would mean you were gone. But you were there, just as always, waiting in the high school halls like a bully waiting to steal my lunch money. But you stole my pride instead. 24
You stole it day by day, a shred at a time, until my dignity was nothing but a wisp of me. You were a ghost who hovered over my shoulder, never letting me out of your sight, out of your grasp. Never letting me go. When I met him, the waters got murky. It felt like the other versions of me were slipping through the cracks, coming back. It felt like there were angels. My bedroom became a haven. My bathroom, a safe place. But where there are angels, there are demons. And god knows I have my share. You.You came back with a vengeance unseen before in my life. You were crippling. Debilitating. Humiliating. You made me feel shame with the precision of a knife, and you made sure to twist the blade. To the version of me I would’ve liked, I hate you. And frankly? I’m close to giving up. You stand behind me in the mirror and drag your fingers across my throat like you are decorating me with a necklace. You make a death threat look like a string of pearls. You make me feel like my body is a wall of graffiti that people pretend to understand but secretly believe should not exist. You smile as I cry, and use my teardrops as ammo in guns that hurt nothing but me. You flip your uniform curls over your shoulders, you blink your beautiful wide eyes, and you just don’t give a damn. To the version of me that I thought I hated, the version that I was born with, the one I thought made me inferior, I just...really hope it’s our turn soon to shine. Nina Moskowitz 25
With or Without You: Being an Author
Tonya Ridener
When I was told what this month’s issue would be about I have to admit I was a little excited. Okay, that’s a lie; I was a lot excited. The word ‘sacrifice’ is universal. We all know it means to give up something for something else you are fiercely passionate about. I’d like to tell you about the sacrifices of one of my greatest passions in life: writing. There are those in the world who eat, sleep, and breathe writing. It’s all we do. It’s what makes us the happiest in a world that seems to grow darker and more chaotic by the day. Writing is our escape. It’s our happiness. It’s all we need to make it through bad days and terrible life events. Writing is just that for me, as it always has been. When you decide to become an author you have to understand that in order to reap the rewards of that small fame and to bask in the joy of sharing your work with the world, you must make sacrifices. Time is no longer yours. You have to decide what moves up on the list of priorities, what can be pushed aside, and what can be omitted. I am fortunate in regards to being single with no children, but I can think of ten authors automatically who must split their time in between their family and their manuscript. I admire them for that. They miss out on important moments just so they can give their readers the next book. To let them know ‘what happens next’ often includes, “Sorry, sweetie. Mommy’s writing right now. Maybe later, okay?”
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As an aunt, I have experienced this before. When my sweet little niece asks me to play while I’m writing a crucial scene, or when my nephew wants to do something with me and I really have to write ‘the end’ before the deadline I’ve set for myself. It’s not a happy feeling and I try to make it up to them, but being an author and producing novels for your readers comes with a price. You may think that writers often sit at their desks watching Youtube videos or reblogging funny cat memes, and while that is sometimes true, it’s not always the case. We throw ourselves into our stories, unsure of when we may emerge. Some of us skip showers for a few days (gross, right?), and we often only survive on snacks and coffee. LOTS of coffee. But time, that’s something I can tell you about. I’ve given up a lot of it to create bear-shifters, vampires, and dramatic romances between meant-to-be-together souls, but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make because I can’t imagine myself doing anything else. But do me a favor, yeah? Remember to take a few hours off, or a few days. Enjoy yourself. Enjoy your family. That manuscript will still be there tomorrow, but tomorrow isn’t always guaranteed for everybody you’ll see today. Tonya Ridener
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Social Watch
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My experience with asexuality
Amanda
Before I knew asexuality was a thing, and especially before I knew it was an okay thing, I spent all my life terrified. This was also due in large part to shitty sex ed, the toxic idea of virginity that our society likes to harbor, and especially how they use this idea in religion to control women but that is not a thing I’m going to touch. This idea was always shoved down my throat that as a girl, I was going to fall in love with a boy, get married, and fulfill my future partner’s sexual needs. But I was always so terrified by the idea that one day I was going to have to have sex. Because among so many awful things girls are told about having sex and for the first time especially, I was told it was going to hurt and all that other shit. But that I was going to have to because that was the whole point of falling in love. I “solved” this problem by vowing to never get romantically involved with anyone. If I didn’t date anyone and if I never fell in love then I would never have to get married and have sex. And I had a million excuses for it, mainly religion. Even after I found out that asexuality was a thing I didn’t stop feeling broken and unlovable and scared. I just knew there was a name for that kind of broken, unlovable, and scared. Whenever someone ever showed interest in me or tried to get into a romantic relationship me, my aceness was the first thing I told them. They all took it as me turning them down since if I wasn’t interested in sex then I must not be interested in a romantic relationship since to so many people those things are mutually exclusive. Some people even got nasty about it and harassed me about my sexuality. 29
The first person I ever dated, when they told me they were interested in me that way and when I did what I always did and said I was ace, didn’t take it as a refusal. They asked if I was also aromantic too or just ace. That made me think a lot and even though at the time I still turned them down, they respected that I wasn’t ready for a relationship and kept being my friend, and their respect for my boundaries was a big reason I did eventually feel safe dating them. But I was still really insecure, because they were younger than I was so not being interested in that was normal for someone their age. So I still never got over those insecurities. I’ve been sent away from family in tears because they yelled at me until I had to run away that no one would ever love me and all my relationships would be meaningless if they didn’t involve sex and I didn’t know how to feel about that when I thought about the relationship I was in at the time. Because then we were doing fine, but what about later when they were more mature? I always dealt with those thoughts in the back of my head. So now that I’m not in a relationship and even though the one I was in helped me see that I could be in a relationship, the idea that’s constantly going around is that I find someone who does respect me and my boundaries, then I’m taking something away from them and I should be thankful that they’re willing to sacrifice to be with me. And it is a long slow painful road to get to a place where I have to realize that I’m not making my future partners have this big burden just to tolerate me. I’m still scared shitless of dating because of those reasons and that I don’t want to end up trapped in a relationship with someone who seems like they totally respect my boundaries at first but start to get impatient because they think I’m just “really hard to get” and if they wait long enough I’ll give in. 30
However, since I’ve started to come to terms with my asexuality and the fact that it is mine and it is me and I control it, I have become a much more liberated person. Now that I know I don’t have to if I don’t want to, I can actually think about the idea of maybe even experiencing partner sex one day without being terrified. Because I still know that that also may ever happen and that’s okay. Along with that, as I become more secure with my sexuality and myself, I realize that there isn’t a label for me to “fit”. There are so many things I can do now that I couldn’t and never would have done when I was hiding behind my ace label trying to fit into the box of what asexual was. I can wear clothes that reveal more of my body, I can take and post photos of myself without clothes because I know now that my body is not automatically sexual, I can respond to sexual stimuli without feeling guilty and doubting myself. And while I still struggle with knowing that I can be ace and it’s okay, it’s awesome to be reminded whenever I see ace positivity that I can be ace and even be good. tl;dr: being ace is frustrating and confusing do visibility is important. Accepting yourself as ace is hard so ace awareness and positivity is awesome. Amanda
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Hollow Lonely birds dissolve into the timeless grey As the wind howls and the clouds pray, For the birds to return and stay… Yet, their souls are hollow… Black crippled wings beat in the sky They fade away just like a lie, Into the fog, they know they’ll die… Yet, their minds are hollow… Seeking freedom won’t break chains Just as solitude remains The birds’ song vanishes like flames, Yet, their voice is hollow… What a mournful tragedy! Bits of their shattered memory Play like a melody Yet, their eyes are hollow… The sinless fog devours them Now the birds are stuck in rem, Breathing still, their afterlife began. They are nothing more but hollow.
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Andreea Albulescu
ART IN MOVEMENT
Hannah Blaga
As we all know fashion trending is getting more and more complex. “We can’t go back, only forward” is what many fashion designers, artists, architects etc. state. We can see that more and more artists of the modern world start mixing fashion/architecture with famous paintings or even classic films. How cool is it to be able to wear a Picasso looking outfit on the street and feel like a million dollars? This new concept of mixing art with the everyday person is becoming a bigger trend throughout the world. Here are some photos of famous Picasso paintings turned into photo-shoots with posing models.
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These breathtaking photos were taken by the famous photographer Eugenio Recuenco from Madrid, Spain. Compared to others, his personal style has been referred to as “cinematographic” and “pictorial”. His work has been featured in magazines such as Vogue and Madame Figaro. Other people such as John Galliano have been interested in putting famous paintings into movement on glamorous catwalks in the large and shiny fashion world. Galliano is a British fashion designer who was head designer of French fashion companies Givenchy and Christian Dior. Gustav Klimt’s work have inspired him in his designs, being able to put a piece of art on walking feet.
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Gustav Klimt has been quite influential in the public’s reactions. His bohemian art that poses women in a fashionable light has inspired many artists. The painter himself was a “dress reformer” and dated people in the anti-fashion industry, for example Emily Floge. Many editorials have put his art into action, such as Patrick Demarchelier’s editorial “The Kiss” (1907-1908) for Harper’s Bazaar (2002) , inspired by Gustav Klimt’s painting. At the end of the day, creative people are finding more efficient ways to get the bigger mass of the population to know more about art in ways that make it seem even more interesting and intriguing! So all you art lovers be prepared to be jaw-dropped for what might be coming next. Hannah Blaga
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Book Review
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Book Review Powered by Editura Litera 1001 de moduri de a-ţi recompensa angajaţii BOB NELSON In life you have to give some to get some. That also applies to companies and organisations. You have to make your employees feel welcome, appreciated and rewarded. And it doesn’t always have to cost you money. This book by Bob Nelson presents no less than 1001 to reward your employees, being more creative than you could imagine. It is suitable for every time of company, be it small or large, and to all genres and activity. It will teach you the connection between productivity and the recognition of employees. It will show you creative ways to do it in person, written, electronic. It will teach you how to relate to people and find out what they desire. It is worth a read even if you do not run a business. Who knows, maybe you will find creative ways to “reward” your friends and acquaintances.
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52 de weekend-uri de vis There is no need to introduce National Geographic. Once you hear their name you know this is an amazing album. Why 52 week-ends you ask? Because what so many of us would like to do is travel all year long. However, when that is not possible, we stay at home, reading this kind of book, enjoying what they present, one destination per week-end. It shows you places of breathtaking beauty, maps and drawings. But more than that, it shows you everything there is to see, where to shop, where to eat, where to party. It’s the best guide there is, teaching you about the wonders of this world. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to see all those beautiful places?
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Patrie şi destin Principesa Moştenitoare a României DIANA MANDACHE Whether you believe in a royal family or not, you must agree that their story is one of duty, patriotism and destiny. They are born into a title, into a great family and even into money. But all that can turn in an instant. Such was the case of the Romanian Family. Diana Mandache has become the expert on all things royal and brings us a personal story of Margareta, the Crown Princess of Romania. While the title is only in name, her life has not been one of luxury and crowns. Having lived in exile with her parents, King Mihai I and Queen Anne of Romania, she has learned what it means to live for a country, to love it, to work for it. From her returned in Romania, that is exactly what she has done through the numerous charities she has chaired or been involved in. This is a story worth reading, a story where history happens right in front of us. It’s a story of nobility, grace and power.
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Music To My Ears
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German symphonic metal band Xandria is realesing their newest EP, Fire and Ashes on July 31st. It features 3 new songs, 2 covers and 2 re-makes of classical Xandria songs. It is the perfect material, extending their previous album, Sacrificium, released in May 2014 and bringing something for every fan. We had the chance to listen to it a bit earlier and this is what we have to say about it.
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Voyage Of The Fallen The opening song is a brand new one, starting in full force with Dianne reciting some lines. The instrumental line is very Xandria, having deep roots in their a bit more oriental past songs. Dianne delivers such great vocals. She is a perfect fit for the band. The song brings a lot of energy, combining it with very operatic chorus. It will surely find its place in future setlists. The tempo is just perfectly waiting for audiences to sing and scream to. Unembraced The song eases in with keyboards, then having the other instruments join in, with Dianne starting after about 35 seconds. The song is very rythmic, while seeming a bit of a ballad. The vocals are clean and acute, while not over-operatical. This is a song you can almost dance to. In the second part, the instrumental goes into a wild headbanging worth part. The vocals get higher and higher and higher, truly showcasing what marvels Dianne can do. In Remembrance Slowly starting as a ballad, the song has extremely emotional feel to it. I think this is my favourite song from the EP. This is the perfect example of how mature and classical the sound of Xandria is. Everything is in harmony, slowly unfolding. I know I keep talking a lot about the vocals, but on this one you can hear in full that Dianne is a soprano. Towards the end, the boys join in, making it an epic and bombastic sound, where you can still feel layers of emotion in each note.
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I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That) We already know this is one of Dianne’s favourite songs, so you can truly believe her everytime she says that she would do anything for love. The song alternates from slower parts to really energetic parts that feel like running on notes. It features a lot of low notes from Dianne. This is such a beautiful rendition of the song. I am really happy they chose it. So much energy, speed and feelings. The instrumental is a bit different than what you usually hear from Xandria, but a masterpiece nevertheless. At 7:25 minutes, it is such a great alternance of moments. And surprise, surprise, this is a duet. You can hear male vocals on it, by ‘Valerio Recenti’, lead singer from Dutch metal band ‘My Propane’.. It works so beautifully. Now I want to hear more duets of Dianne. I do hope to hear this one live.
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Photos: Tim Tronckoe
Ravenheart This song needs no introduction. If you know Xandria, you know Ravenheart. You will hear it everytime, everywhere, in any setlist. One could say it’s their biggest song. It has seen many forms until now, but it welcomes a final one, to integrate it into the sound of now’s Xandria. If you have been to their concerts, you have heard this song live, so you know it sounds amazing and it is everything you expect it to be. But it’s amazing that it got a remastering, a new, fresh, look. This is a powerful rendition and Dianne owns it completely. Leave it to Xandria to make a new hit out of their old hit. Now & Forever This one is also a classic Xandria that gets a new face. Just as Ravenheart, it shows not only that Xandria’s songs can last through the years, but the band has matured and they have taken their sound to a new level. The instrumental is pumped up and the vocals fit perfectly. It sure helps that they have played the song many many times. On some parts it can become a bit too much, losing that soft initial touch of the song. Don’t Say A Word This is a cover of the Sonata Arctica song. I have to admit I have developed a passion for the original song these last days, so I will partial to it. But wow! My response to the song is just: wow! They do so much justice to the song. While not copying the song, it stays true to its form. Xandria can do power metal. Is there anything they cannot do, actually? You will hear so many versions of Dianne on this one. Stay on the lookout for a tour with Sonata Arctica and Xandria, because I cannot wait to hear them duet on this one. 45
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