I think female-fronted Metal does not get the credit it deserves; there are many bands out there having amazing female singers and still try to make it to the front row. Of course the female-fronted bands live with a curse that came to be in the recent years, the curse of pseudo/gothic/female-fronted bands that in my humble opinion we should take them all on a cruise in the middle of the ocean and torpedo the ship. Thess pseudo gothic/melodic/emotional bands have nothing to do with SAMANDRIEL.

SAMANDRIEL come from Canada, a recently formed band yet with much promise. You have a voice that resembles Liv Kirsten in her more recent works with LEAVE'S EYES and NIGHTWISH during "Oceanborn" and "Wishmaster". I do not know if Doneka has the same vocal range as Tarja but maybe NIGHTWISH should have discovered Doneka; first they would have feared better. The rest of the sound manages a great combination of Heavy Metal closely to old school progressive Metal, restrained but for the better and a good epic Metal feel all this delivered in plentiful doses within this first, self released, EP.

Although not a ground breaking scene altering production SAMANDRIEL posses all the fine elements to actually take a stand in the scene and manage to continue with success. I know that there are many bands out there that drive down that path of progressive/melodic/epic Metal, but I don't know...was it the voice? The well crafted music there is something in this band that I liked from the first time I listened to them, something that sounded old yet at the same time fresh and new.

I should add that SAMANDRIEL - apart from a great voice - has a great guitar work, very good riffs that take you by force through the songs, heavy, powerful and well played. The songs themselves are far from boring and repetitive, a mistake common to such bands that rely only on the vocals and music play and forget to change their songs. 'Epic' is also a description that fits SAMANDRIEL and is evident in their songs. Of course certain clichés are probably unavoidable, such as the growling male voice in the background.

I believe that SAMANDRIEL is a good band and I am expecting more from them in a future full length album. I hope by the time I am writing this a label record has been found, I know that we are living in times were the pseudo "goth" and "core" bands get the lion's share but I hope their time will vane soon.