Revamp Revamp
by Justin Gaines
Staff Writer
Revamp is the highly anticipated new project from former After Forever siren Floor Jansen. After more than a decade with the band, Jansen started Revamp with the help of former bandmate Joost van den Broek and Waldemar Sorychta (of Grip, Inc.), who collaborated with her in the writing and recording of this self-titled debut album.
Revamp is, unsurprisingly, not too far removed from Jansen’s work in After Forever, though the band has managed to move beyond the confines and structures you’d typically associate with that kind of music. For one thing, it’s metal as hell. Not metal in a delicate flower kind of way either. These songs have some blistering riffs and pounding rhythms that all but guarantee headbanging. To be sure, there are symphonic and gothic elements (choirs, keys, strings, etc.), and the songs have a great sense of melody, but heavy freaking metal is definitely the order of the day. As for Jansen, she’s all over the place here, demonstrating a range that goes from delicate whispers to anguished (or is that triumphant) almost screaming. She’s a wonder to behold, and this may be her finest performance to date.
As if Jansen’s powerful voice wasn’t incentive enough, the Revamp debut also features a trio of guest vocal appearances. Russell Allen (of Symphony X) performs a duet with Jansen on the haunting “Sweet Curse,” Soilwork’s Bjorn “Speed” Strid delivers a short, sharp shock on “In Sickness: Till Death Do Us Part – Disdain,” and George Oosthoek (of Orphanage) growls on “Here’s My Hell.”
Revamp is obviously going to be a must-have for fans of Jansen’s prior work in After Forever. It should also appeal to fans of female-fronted gothic/symphonic metal in general, especially those who might have grown bored with the overcrowded genre’s less adventurous bands. Revamp is rewriting the book on this kind of metal.
Genre: Symphonic Metal
Band:
Floor Jansen (v)
Matthias Landes (d)
Jaap Melman (b)
Jord Otto (g)
Arjan Rijnen (g)
Ruben Wijga (k)
Track Listing:
1. Here’s My Hell
2. Head Up High
3. Sweet Curse
4. Million
5. In Sickness: Till Death Do Us Part – All Goodbyes are Said
6. Break
7. In Sickness: Till Death Do Us Part – Disdain
8. In Sickness: Till Death Do Us Part – Disgraced
9. Kill Me With Silence
10. Fast Forward
11. The Trial of Monsters
12. Under My Skin
13. I Lost Myself
Label: Nuclear Blast
Website: www.revampmusic.com
Hardrock Haven rating: 8/10