Tarja - In The Raw
TARJA DROPS COMPELLING ‘IN THE RAW’
Finland’s queen of symphonic metal – Tarja – just dropped a new album, called In The Raw, featuring 10-tracks of thick, potent dark flavors.
Tarja
In The Raw is Tarja’s fifth solo album, and exhibits a stormier sound than past efforts – a tad more muscular, a little rougher and denser, and thus more experimental, perhaps. It will be interesting to see where her music goes subsequently.
Per her usual practice, Tarja includes two dazzling ballads: “You And I” and “The Golden Chamber.” The former flows on gorgeous soaring strings atop an elegant piano, with, of course, Tarja’s delicious operatic tones forming the focal point.
The album’s opening track, “Dead Promises” delivers tight, powerful metal savors capped by sweeping orchestral bravura and the growling voice of Bjorn “Speed” Strid, who is featured on the track. I love the brawny savage guitars, raw and grinding, reminiscent of Slipknot, fused with the Gothic symphonic colors.
When the viciously chugging guitars ramp up, the harmonics take on tantalizing muscularity.
Other entry points include “Goodbye Stranger,” with Cristina Scabbia. Impenetrable guitars blend with a monstrously infectious rhythm, grabbing listeners by the throat, as Tarja’s formidable timbres, sinuous yet scrumptiously compelling, glide overhead.
“Tears In Rain” opens on forcefully snarling guitars flowing into an almost ‘60s-flavored bridge leading to layers of viscous textures. The solo section features a searing guitar traveling on thrash metal energy, followed by seguing into the wonderful symphonic metal melody.
The intro on “Railroads” is exquisite, flowing into song-song vocal harmonies, as well as Tarja’s magnificently towering tones, crystalline, nuanced, and fiercely alluring. “Spirits Of The Sea” opens on dark, heavy colors, emanating paralyzing menace. When the viciously chugging guitars ramp up, the harmonics take on tantalizing muscularity.
The final track, “Shadow Play,” rides a throbbing, contagious rhythm topped by regal vocal harmonies rife with martial resonance, as Tarja’s gracefully curving tones imbue the tune with washes of surging hues.
In The Raw is superb, amalgamating streaming symphonic momentum with the dark oomph of rough and ready guitars, and of course the beguiling voice of Tarja.
