It's about a time for the Israeli local scene to have some more diversity and Symphonic Metal is what was missing. My expectations was pretty high about the Symphonic Power Gothic Metal band SALVATION since I've heard plenty good things about the band and it was distributed very well, almost every corner has the bands sticker, the album is out online and also the official lyric video for the song "Broken" is pretty awesome.

My expectations was exceeded, SALVATION is a splendid band, atmospheric, has a dark side but also a light side with elevating spirit. The composition is rich and have a list of instruments to pick up from, from the common bass/guitar/drums through piano and rich keyboards to fill the air with choirs and violins. Every song has it's own character and a story. The duet vocals, growls made by Matan Kedar followed by clean sweet voice by Victoria Maksimova is a great Idea though, it has few problems.

The first song "The Shedding Of Rain", starts with keyboards and violin choirs sounds, a shady guitar riff comes and the music starts to kick in, the dark cold atmosphere starts to coating the ears while the beastly growls by Matan Kedar performed. At the time Victoria began to sing, my first thoughts and understanding was that she is not more than a background vocalist, as it sounds, the one who stands in the back.

But I was wrong and at the third song I'd realized, Victoria is a lead singer, just like Matan, they are in fact a duet. The fact that I was deeply surprised by that, points out the poor selection for the vocalists position and final production.
Her performance is boring and monotone, in a background of a rich and beautiful music as such, in my opinion her place is in a back where her voice is capable of, where it belongs. Her voice is sweet and gentle in fact, but as I said, is just not powerful enough to lead and could take a good part as a filling background.

The general sound is not balanced, the drums are too way in the background and I could barely hear the kicks. Almost all of the instruments sounds are not in their place, some of the keyboards parts are too sharp, guitar solos are very high too. Maybe the unbalanced sound for this album, is what caused that uncomfortable and confusing feeling toward Victoria, but then we have the 4th song, "Inno In Senses" which gives her the full stage to show her vocal abilities with a powerful chorus. But unfortunately it sounds flat, not dominant as usual.

"Tears I Cried, Tears I Bled", the 5th track for this album, takes you with it's intro to a magical fairy forest, beautiful and gentle vocals caresses your face when suddenly a powerful Metal melody bursts in with growls and guitar lead. As it turns out to the chorus, the powerful build in with base drum kicks, with Victoria's vocals, the expectations for this part is to raise and power up the feeling, since it's the peak of the entire song! But still, I've expected too much, even in this part, she sounds monotonous and flat.

I have to say that this song is my favorite, it's perfect and kitschy, it just sticks in your head. It's beautiful and fun and I would like to hear it with better performance and editing. As much as I declined Victoria's singing, I can not say that she's terrible singer, there are some consideration that have to be pointed out, such as I said before, the general sound and production for this album sounds pretty amateur and unbalanced.

In some parts she sounds monotonous and in some parts are just unbalanced but with killer performance. So, I can't judge her vocal performance completely before I see her live on stage. For example, the final song for the album "Roses" she sounds completely different than before, dominant and beautiful, she took advantage from every second of this song and shows her complete skills. then, where was she for the whole album? Did she just wake up? Or it's the product of the amateur production? that should provide guidance for her before and after the recordings. This is for the band decide, for the future albums.

It took a long time for me to spill it out, my hesitations to speak those harsh words came from a deep affection towards this album and the band, it's just beautifulץ but there are some sour fruits there that needs watering and more work should be done. in simple words, I think they need some professional guidance, because they have enormous potential that right now, looks like it's in a dead end.