“Maximalism” is said to be Amaranthe’s manifesto to the world, clamining their spot as one of the more promising bands within the genre, and with “Maximalism” they decided to maximize everything on the album, to stretch it as far as possible.
The album starts off very promisingly with the single “Maximize” which is very similar to everything Amaranthe has done before, even the construction of the song is very similar to two previous openers, yet, maximized, and the album closes with the epic, majestetic and Disney-like “Endlessly”, where we really get to hear Elize work her vocals in the best ways possible. In between the two however, it’s very up and down.
And lyrics. This is something, I haven’t really known how to adress, but I’m used to Amaranthe having a bit more “clever” lyrics, almost a little in the vein of Epica rather than anything else, but several of the songs on this album has lyrics resembling what you hear on the radio or in the club, rather than what you are used to. I guess it all gets a bit stronger when Elize also bends her voice in a more Rihanna-esque kind of way. There are exceptions, of course. BUT, it is interesting to see how much she can do. From Rihanna to “usual” voice to opera. Sweet.
The material over all, is very Amaranthe-ish, like we have known them for ages. However, there’s a couple of songs that sticks in my eyes – “That Song”, and also “Limitless”. These are the songs that got either little to no metal elements in their songs. Without actually being a ballad or something else. And this… I don’t know. I love them for trying out things, and changing things up, and, well, maximizing, but for me, this just became oddities sticking out, in a bad way, on a fairly solid album, despite sounding very overproduced at times with a lot of unnecessary effects that don’t really do a lot for the songs.
However, these songs are weighed up by songs as “Faster” and “Fury”. And let’s talk about “Fury” a little bit.
When I heard this song as the single, I just loved it right away. It’s absolutely amazing, Henriks vocal work is beyond me. I seriously have this song on repeat. BUT, since it’s growling vocals, I have had it a little tricky to hear the lyrics properly, but I did notice the Yngwie Malmsteen reference, and upon examining the lyrics a little more, I found myself laughing for a good amount of time and found myself loving this song even more than I already did. Seriously. I… I can’t even. This is the song that saves the album for me.
Another song I want to lift forward is “Supersonic”. This song is, the humor aside in “Fury”, probably the most interesting song on the album. First and foremost, this song is really an elevated version of themselves, as well as being a bit of an anthem for themselves, with lyrics expressing that this is simply who they are. I love how they play around and Elize just going completely off with a little opera part, for me giving a bit of a feeling that they’ll simply do whatever they want.
So, I guess it’s safe to say that I didn’t exactly love this album right away. It’s a bit tricky though, it all depends on what song I’m listening to. Right now, “Endlessly” is being played, and I just love everything. But as soon as “Boomerang” comes on I just want to shut everything off. So, the good songs are very good, while the “bad” ones I just want to get away. I enjoy about half of the songs, and this is after giving the album quite a few chances. I love “MASSIVE ADDICTIVE” so much, and was probably expecting something a lot more in the vein of that one, and this is why I’m left a bit.. meh about it. I’m just gonna go back to “Fury” now.
// Sara
Sara Hammerzmith 