Alerion - Turn of Fate (Promo - 2009)

This review has been handed over to me as the Gothic/Prog fan here. I'm also the Melodic/Aor etc fan as well but prog is my first love. So off I go to http://www.alerion.nl/music.html to download the 2 track promo which the band have very kindly put up on their website for their fans as well as us reviewers.

On first listen I'm thinking "well not too bad". I'm now into my sixth listen of this though and while I still think it's pretty good a couple of things do stand out and let it down. First of all the biggie that lets it down for me is the mix. The vocals are way down. Not too sure if that is because Maaike Siegerist doesn't have a powerful enough voice to be put further up in the mix or not. It's hard to say from this. I was very suprised when I read that Kevin Storm of Cardamon had produced this because the production that I've heard on their myspace page is awesome.

The second thing to me is track 2 "Clash with Eternity". It's not a strong enough song to put on a promo. On a promo you have to sell the band and the music to the labels. It just doesn't do that for me. I certainly wouldn't be inspired to sign the band on listening to that track. Luckily the first song "Turn of Fate" is a bit of a gem.

"Turn of Fate" could be a really stunning song for Alerion. It's a song that wouldn't sound too much out of place on one of the big named female vocals gothic bands. You can really see it going down a storm at their gigs. It has everything going for it. Strong guitars, a very cool bass solo (which I really enjoyed) and haunting vocals melodies throughout. A simply awesome song that with good production behind it could be immense!

In conclusion Alerion are a band that I can honestly see going places in the future. I sincerely wish them all the luck in the world at getting signed by a major label and if they are ever in the North East of England playing a gig anytime then I'll be one of the first in the queue to see them.

Maaike Siegerist - Vocals
Bas Willemsen - Lead & rhythm guitars
Paul Bouman - Keys
Ronald van Schaik - Bass guitars
Lennert Stap - Drums