Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Stream of Passion
Label: PIAS
Release: 2014
Length: 59:33
Rating: 4/5
Dutch outfit Stream Of Passion, fronted by Mexican-born singer Marcela Bovino, are back with their fourth studio album, »A War Of Our Own«. This is a band for fans of symphonic power metal (with a dash of progressive metal passages), not far from contemporaries like Leave’s Eyes, Epica and Xandria.
The album took a long time to come together, and the band was in a pretty lousy spot while making it. A conflict with the label took center stage, the band could no longer count on financial backing, and that meant their very existence was on the line. So they launched a crowdfunding drive, and the fans really came through: within a few weeks the band managed to raise a whopping 44,000€. Through merch sales, assorted donations and live shows.
»A War of Our Own« can undeniably be called the band’s most ambitious work to date. Given the many dark thoughts and unpleasant experiences from the cascade of events the band lived through while making the album, it’s their heaviest record, even their darkest, but also their most dynamic and exploratory, with which the band has loosened up its established, predictable musical template a bit.
Sure, even with their fourth album Stream Of Passion don’t bring any musical revolution or special creative »flashes of genius« – in symphonic power metal (with progressive metal contours) pretty much everything has been invented and said long ago – but you can’t overlook the huge heart and ambition running through this release. The production is excellent and alive, and by contrasting the structures (the building blocks of the arrangements) it achieves a wide range of shifting moods and amplifies the intended feelings in the songs’ messages just right. There are also plenty of passages that flirt boldly with »operetta theater«, meaning the album is laced with orchestral parts. The songs come across as a glorious collision of the symphonic element and the power metal element. In songs like The Curse and Exile you can even catch bits of Latin rhythmic musicality (in the intros), which fits (and serves) the message of the lyrics. Even though Marcela Bovino has lived in the Netherlands for years, the homesickness for her true homeland will forever be her »noise in the heart«. That’s why a few songs, like the opening Monster, the already mentioned Exile and Curse, are dedicated to the state of society in Mexico, where violent death lurks around every corner. At the same time, thanks above all to the deep feeling and heartfelt emotion and passion of the female vocals, the album has plenty of grace in its calmer moments and passages, which adds even more variety to the already layered arrangements.
The lineup, which had strong support early in its career from former member and seasoned Dutch music guru Anthony Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon, Star One, ex-Vengeance), sounds remarkably coherent and unified on the album. You can feel that Stream Of Passion have matured musically and found the right shared formula for this record, a creative recipe of full-blooded understanding and perception among the members of the team. That’s why the ideas get magnified so effectively and optimally in the body of the album. The build-up of moods is striking. Through them the band tries to pierce dark states of mind with rays of light that lead, through personal purification, to letting go and a kind of (self-)redemption, in the crazy world of today, where moral principles were trampled long ago . Thirteen songs and almost an hour of music is a bone genre fans will be gnawing on for a good while. This is a demanding record that doesn’t go straight to the ear and takes a bit more patience. Mostly because of the pronounced dynamics and layered structure of the songs, which means this is the band’s most demanding work to date.
»A War Of Our Own« is also a kind of trailblazing album. The album that saved the band. In a way it was born again with it, which means it came out of the situation even stronger. This time around they created completely freely, without the burdensome pressure of a label, which means the only true judge of the quality of the band’s »rebirth« is their loyal fan base, as well as fans of the genre itself, to which Stream Of Passion pledge their loyalty once again with the new album.
Line-up
Marcela Bovino – vocals
Eric hazebroek – guitar
Stephan Schultz – guitar
Jeffrey Revet – keyboards
Johan van Straium – bass guitar
Martijn Peters – drums
Production
Joost van den Broek
Tracklist
1. Monster
2. A War Of Our Own
3. The Curse
4. Autophobia
5. Burning Star
6. For You
7. Exile
8. Delirio
9. Earthquake
10. Secrets
11. Don’t Let Go
12. Out Of Darkness
13. The Distance Between Us
