XANDRIA The Wonders Still Awaiting | Weekly Heavy Metal Album Review

Released by Napalm Records on February 3rd, 2023

Quick Background

Xandria is a German symphonic metal band founded by Marco Heubaum in 1994. since then the band has gone through various lineup changes. Their seventh album, Theater of Dimensions was released on January 2017 and after that the whole band left leaving founder Marco alone. In 2022, then he announced a new lineup, with the addition of the band's new vocalist Ambre Vourvahis. Ambre has an impressive dynamic range varying between beautiful classical harmonies to powerful clean singing in the style of Nightwish, to even harsh growls that remind me of Arch Enemy.

The Wonders Still Awaiting

The Wonders Still Awaiting is their eighth studio. It is the first studio album to feature not only Ambre  but also Tim Schwarz on bass, drummer Dimitros Gatsios and guitarist Rob Klawonn. With 13 songs and clocking in at 75min, this is a very long album. 

From the first bars of the opening track "Two Worlds" the use of choir and orchestral elements creating an epic and cinematic feel of the album are very clear. While the symphonic elements are very prominent, there's also a considerable emphasis on the guitars. At some moments it gets pretty heavy as in the bridge of this song. Not only it's a heavy guitar tone with cools riffs but also Ambre showcases her ability with death metal growls. While not used very frequently, they appear throughout the album and to me they add a lot of character to their music. In "Illusion is Their Name" the growls are prominent. On the other hand, in the single "Reborn" we can hear she going full operatic (e.g. the Post-Chorus). 

If you are distracted as the single "You Will Never Be Our God" starts, I can bet you will think it's a new Arch Enemy song. Now, this song features Ralf Scheepers from Primal Fear and I must say, why? His voice is so low in the mix that it barely makes a difference and he only does backing vocals, not for a sentence he sings alone. I liked the song a lot, but what a missed opportunity.

The title track is so Nightwish, but ok I like it. There's even more emphasis on keyboards which is not the case for most of the album. And actually this focus on guitars backed up by symphonic arrangements is what I like the most in Xandria's new sound. That's very evident in many tracks, but specially in the single "Ghosts", sick riffs here and super over the top symphonic blasts. Worth noting how cheesy this song's video is, it's so bad that it's good, if you know what I mean. And damn the chorus is catchy. 

In terms of musicianship, Xandria showed their technical proficiency on instruments, particularly in the guitars, while maintaining a strong sense of melody and catchiness. Take "My Curse is My Redemption" as an example. The album was produced by Marco Heubaum to a high standard, with a clear and balanced mix that allowed almost all elements of the music to shine through. The only exception is the bass. 

Finally I want to talk about the epic album closer "Astèria", a 9 min piece translating from Greek into stars. One of Marco's passion is film scores and the best example is the album closer. Featuring a eastern flavor and lyrics about refugees leaving their home country behind. The whole song could be part of the soundtrack of an actual movie. Marco is so proud of all the symphonic arrangements on this album that a deluxe version can be found with a second CD with  Orchestral Version of the entire album.

The Picky Guy

Xandria demonstrate their versatility as songwriters, incorporating elements of different sub-genres of metal into their sound. The album features a mix of aggressive, fast-paced tracks and more atmospheric, slower pieces that showcase the band's strong sense of dynamics. Do I really like the slower tracks such as "Your Stories I'll Remember" and "Paradise"? Not really. The other thing is when we reach track number 10, we are already 50min into the album and still 4 songs to go. It's difficult to keep the focus.

Wrap Up Opinion 

Overall, The Wonders Still Awaiting is Xandria's long waited comeback showcasing strong songwriting skills and musical talent from the new members, specially singer Ambre, making it a standout release in the symphonic metal genre. The album is a diverse blend of symphonic metal, power metal, and subtle death metal elements. And while not innovative and a bit too long, it is a good release deserving a strong 81/100. For fans of the genre, this is a must check release. 

SCORE: 81/100

Genre: Symphonic Metal

Released by Napalm Records on February 3rd, 2023

Rating System

99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad

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