CoC : Swan Christy - One With the Swan : Review

Swan Christy - _One With the Swan_
(Black Lotus Records, 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo (6 out of 10)

Symphonic metal is what Swan Christy aimed to create with _One With the Swan_ (or at least so it says in their biography); however, it turns out that it isn't very symphonic, and there certainly isn't much metal to be found here either. They did use violin and piano, but that's not necessarily enough to give the album a "symphonic" feeling. Still, the violin and piano melodies are usually quite good, and happen to be what's better on most of the album. The very soft male vocals are skilled enough, but not very remarkable; you'll most likely hardly ever notice the drumming; and both the guitar sound and playing are rather poor (some similarities with Angizia come to mind here). So what is it that adds up to that average rating? Well, Natalie Rassoulis (whom you may know for her work with Septic Flesh) provides her excellent vocals during approximately ten minutes, and the rest of the album has plenty of the nice violin/piano melodies I mentioned, which is pretty much all that remains after _OWtS_ is over.

(article published 8/7/1998)