The Shiver are an interesting new band that will instantly gather comparisons to Evanescence, but there's more than meets your ear to this band. Female vocalist and chief songwriter, Faith, is the driving force behind this Italian outfit and looks to have a bright future ahead of her and her band. Combining an almost Goth sensibility and a love for Metal, Faith and her searing vocals on the bands new disc, A New Horizon (Reality Entertainment) are a focal point and deservedly so. She is able to mix pristinely clean and clear vocals with an equal amount of passion and even the odd, Arch Enemy styled female growls all over some nice heavy, riffy guitar fueled and punchy drummed Modern Metal. The comparison to Amy Lee is not a bad one that's for sure and to be honest, Faith and her cohorts are on to something here that Evanescence never fully brought to the table.
Joining Faith is drummer Finch and these two are the main contributors to A New Horizon, along with producer Alessandro Paolucci (Raw Power) who also laid down the bass tracks and Stefano Tocci (Incoming Cerebral Overdrive) who supplied the guitars. A New Horizon contains 12 songs full of hauntingly beautiful melodies and vocal harmonies and is full of wall crushing guitars, but the star of this show is Faith and her serene voice and songwriting ability. The Evanescence comparisons begin to fall off, the deeper that you get into this record. The Shiver just give you catchy hook, after catchy hook all while being able to pummel you over the head with the heavy guitar riffage. Standout song, "Answers" is a prime example of this. Easing you into the song with a pretty piano passage and then smacking you across the face with the jackhammer guitars, while Faith comes in and soars over top with another sing along chorus. This is a metal song for sure, while at the same time full of melody and is just flat out catchy. And the more mellow and eerie "Through This Cold Water" allow Faith to stretch out her vocals all while showing the immaculate vocal production on this record. While opening track, "In Obscurity" with it's dark story of a creature living underground lusting to not be alone, sets up the Gothic imagery and feeling of the record.
A New Horizon is very much one of those records that the more you listen to it the even better it becomes! The Shiver grabs your attention from the first few notes of the CD opener, "In Obscurity" and just squeezes you tighter and tighter as the record goes on and then keeps you locked up until the ambient CD closer of "Bring Me to the Horizon" releases you. Besides the Evanescence female comparison thing, elements of bands like Sevendust, Soil, Breaking Benjamin or Chevelle come to mind. The Shiver, have a just KILLER CD here with A New Horizon and to be honest my initial reaction was a bit different. Not that it was not good, not at all, but I have never been a huge fan of female singers doing the metal thing, but god damn if I wasn't won over! Usually the vocals are a bit weak as they have to try and deliver a ballsy performance to try and keep up with the strong music that accompanies them, but not in this case. The music is as tough as nails and the vocals are even better. Faith doesn't try to sing like a man and that's key, as she has her own delivery and voice that would far outshine a guy trying to do what she has created here. Her eloquent songwriting only sets up her vocals and that alone is a talent that should be applauded.
In this day and age where there is some shitty music around, it is awesome to hear and see that a woman from Rome has been able to craft some excellent music not to mention some pretty damn awe-inspiring vocals. A New Horizon is a chillingly brilliant, dark and Goth-ish Hard Rock/Metal record. Do yourself a favor and head over to their Myspace page and check them out. You won't be disappointed.
Track Listing
1. In Obscurity
2. Crushing Down
3. Empty People Empty Words
4. The Fragile Sound
5. Nothing Left To Waste
6. Through This Cold Water
7. Leech and Flower
8. Answers
9. Feel Tomorrow's Light
10. Desire
11. No Longer Here
12. Bring Me to the Horizon
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