There are not many times in what passes for modern metal, where we are forced to stop ourselves and take notice of what is a truly special and utterly transcendental moment in music. Too often we are caught up in the machismo and absurdity of the genre we love so much. So when someone with as much talent as Victoria K comes along it’s one of those moments. Her voice is beyond this humble wordsmith’s scope. I could eulogize on and on about her scope and the way she lets each note hang in the air with such grace and intelligence you’d think she was older than her tender young age. Not only is her voice something that will delight you and haunt you in equal parts, but it’s also matched by the power and grace of the band that backs her on this record. Placing her in the symphonic metal category is to me a slight misnomer. Because I think truly she has created her own unique metal category here.
Sweeping progressive power metal is more
Like it. How unique and brave she to make a concept album at such a time in her relatively new career. It would have been simple to follow up the wondrous 2020 debut album Essentia that in its own right was a brilliant foreshadowing of an album that was to come.
Kore is an epic tale of ancient Greek mythology the tale of Persephone the daughter of Zeus the king of the gods and Demeter the goddess of Agriculture. Who is also known as Kore. She becomes the queen of the underworld after her abduction by Hades her uncle. And her temporary return to the surface heralds spring. I have simplified what is a very touching and dramatic part of the Greek origin story. But not so Victoria K in an ambitious and beautifully thought out the album she sets out to tell the story in 11 parts each one not just one part but the sum of all its parts. Conceptual albums are difficult they can do one of two things.
Drown in a sea of bombastic morass or capture the listener’s imagination. Here she most defiantly captures our imagination. You can hear in the very DNA of this record the love that the band has for its subject. It’s heavy and achingly beautiful in equal parts.
I have always loved a good concept album being a Prog head at heart and there are lots of progressive metal records floating around the constant stream of modern metal.
But for me, none so well produced, performed and as inspired as this one. If you’re looking to dip your toes into the waters of concept albums this is most defiantly the one to try. It’s not dry or heavy going like some and you don’t need to have a degree in Astrophysics to enjoy it.
Long gone the image of thick-rimmed glassed music professors in flares noodling around in impossible time signatures. Now there is new blood, new energy and WHAT a voice, it truly has left me with goosebumps. This young talent from Melbourne Australia is really going places. And I for one will be really keen to see quite how far she can go.
I give this 5 out of 5 WHAT A TRIUMPH WHAT A VOICE
Victoria K: Facebook
Release Year: 2022
Label: Rockshots Records
Category: Album
Country: Australia
Reviewed by Tony Evans
