Confidential - 'Devil Inside'

(Massacre Records)

Norwegian Symphonic Metal Band Confidential is fronted by Astrid K Mjoen who is also the principal song writer. ‘Devil Inside’ is their debut album and is full on unadulterated Symphonic Metal everything you’d expecting from a band with that tag is present here. From Grandiose atmospherics to the soaring vocals and epic synths and everything in between. This genre is quite diverse and not all of it hits the mark with me, I tend to lean towards the more commercial end of the genre’s spectrum and Confidential are definitely that! So, I was a very happy bunny headbanging away to some songs and been drifted away on ethereal wings on others.

One of the things that makes this album different to other albums in the genre is the lyrics. Musically it is very much an unashamed commercial flavoured Symphonic album and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but I feel the lyrics is where than band will make its mark and help them stand out in a very populated genre.

As a rule Symphonic bands tend to veer towards fantastical and storytelling style lyrics, Confidential have gone down a more personal route. Astrid lays her heart bare here and it takes that emotive nature of the genre up a notch as it makes the band a lot easier to relate too and engage with.

There are some truly beautiful songs on here whose emotional impact is so much stronger given the personal nature of the lyrics and Astrid’s simply amazing emotive vocals making sure it kicks you right in the feels! The personal nature of these songs really hits home, this is more obvious on the ballads with the atmospherics boosting the impact but if you dive into this album properly it will captivate you entirely.

Two of my personal favourites play back-to-back and have similar feels, ‘Queen of The Dark’ and ‘Brother Of My Soul’ they are intensely emotional, beautiful and have s bittersweet tone which I adore.

It’s the emotional spearhead of these songs that make me enjoy this album and certainly a strong reason why I would recommend Confidential to people to check out over other Symphonic acts. ‘Devil Inside’ is a stunning debut which will definitely impress Symphonic Metal fans and will certainly establish them as ones to watch and I’m sure gerne fanboys will be delightfully enthusing about their new favourite band.

8/10

Essential Track - 'Devil Inside'

Review by Woody