I was lucky enough to have the pleasure of reviewing the last album ‘Monuments’ released in 2008 by Brave. To say I was somewhat bowled over by it is an understatement as the combined song writing and female vocals really stood out. At the time I said that it was a crime the band were at the time unsigned. Well thankfully they have now been picked up by English label Femme Metal, a label with some great female fronted groups on their roster, all of whom we will no doubt be covering when they have new releases. Of course Brave have a fair history behind them, the New Englanders were at one time signed to the eclectic Dark Symphonies who have sadly been very quiet since the release of Autumn Tears excellent ‘The Hallowing’ album. To celebrate the signing of Brave and the fact that the group are on their tenth anniversary, Femme Metal have released ‘Lost In Retrospect’ which is a historical jaunt through the last decade of the band’s material.
The first three numbers here are from the ‘Monuments’ album so were ones I already knew and loved. ‘Something To This’ shows the versatility of the group, with a violin leading a plaintive number that reminds me a bit of a cross between The Gathering, Lacuna Coil and All About Eve (which in my book makes them pretty much perfect). Singer Michelle has a really lush voice and it totally draws you into the melody, soothing and beguiling on this progressive lament. ‘Driven’ does as expected and picks up the pace. Gothic sounding guitar lines weave around and the vocals are a lot more forceful, having said that it is absolutely gorgeous with it.
‘Words’ is the first of the numbers I have not heard and the deliriously etched violin work really does lead this off on a merry old dance. It’s impossible not to be totally entranced by this and the histrionic guitar leads flowing along in time to it. This is not a band that simply has a strong singer, they are more than capable of matching her here. There are no problems with the old ballads either, ‘Before Nightfall’ being one such example with an acoustic flow accompanying the harmonic vocals. On the strength of this I am definitely putting ‘Searching For The Sun’ on my shopping list as ‘Trapped Inside’ is a stomping tune and a half and one of my new favourite numbers from the band tempered with an almost psychedelic instrumental fusion.
As the retrospective goes further back in time it becomes apparent that Brave were pretty damn impressive at the beginning of their career although it is clear on numbers such as ‘To Dance By Moonlight’ that Michelle’s vocals have gained a lot of confidence since then. With over an hour of music this is a great introduction to Brave and hopefully it will get them some exposure as they certainly deserve it. Already looking forward to the next studio album and hope they are quicker to deliver it than the four years it took them for ‘Monuments’
http://www.bravemusic.com
http://www.myspace.com/braveband
http://www.femmemetal.net
