Shadow
Somnia
•
March 18, 2015

Rock music and operas are two things which I, honest to god, did not think would work all that well together, as I've never been a big fan of operas as there's something about them which puts me off, which I can't really explain. That was a worry, which has since been discarded, as now I welcome them, as I have heard a couple of tunes from a couple of Rock operas, which I have liked where multiple singers take on various roles to sing a story.
The band featured in this review are one of those who write Rock opera style music and this year their debut EP is out with the first full length coming later and the band in question is called SOMNIA who are from Israel and their first release, the "Shadow" is out now and I'm here to see if this is one I can add to the list of Rock opera style music that I like.
Having already written a full on Rock opera, which has been delayed multiple times due to other commitments, SOMNIA have obviously not let that stop them as they decided to start a new project tailored to the band's style using operatic elements in their music and the result is the "Shadow" which was released last month. Even though this EP has four songs, you could say that really it has two as one song is split into three parts with each one transitioning straight into the next without stopping and that really makes up the bulk of this EP.
The opening track "Tantibus" isn't really a Rock opera style song per-say as it's more symphonic in my opinion but it gives you a good taster of what SOMNIA are capable of and you know what, it's a good way to start off this EP as the singer may be from Israel but there is a good quality performance from them and their voice seems to be suited for this style of music which by the way is nice and clear too and listening to it reminds me of other music I have heard which sounds similar to this but I can't for the life of me recall what it reminds me of, so I'll stop there.
The next song, or should I say three, is the Rock opera part of this EP and it is one song split across three parts, which I have seen happen before. The song is called "Shards" and it is split into three parts "Birds", "Shadow" and "Gravity" and each part is around 4 minutes long which is a smart move in my opinion, as often lengthy songs can be boring but if you change the style a bit for each one, then it will make it more enjoyable, which is the case here, as each part has a different sound and style to it which I can't really explain properly without sounding confusing, so listen to it yourselves to get a rough idea of what I mean.
Any faults? There aren't really that many worth mentioning but I will mention one and that is for the Rock opera part of this EP, there are a few screamo lines from time to time across the three parts which does annoy me a bit but there are gaps in between each of them so I can forgive that but overall, there aren't really any major problems which put me off or are worth mentioning as you soon forget about or ignore them completely when you listen to this.
Bottom line, I am very impressed with SOMNIA's first release and the Rock opera style sound is clearly suited for a band like them and I can add this to the list of Rock opera style sounding music that I like as well as the list of bands I like which are from countries where I honestly did not expect to find good talent but that can often be a good thing as the best talent can often come from the strangest of places which I've found out with a few bands I like and I look forward to welcoming more into my catalogue of music I like.<
7 / 10
Good

"Shadow" Track-listing:
1. Tantibus
2. Shards - Pt I: Birds
3. Shards - Pt II: Shadow
4. Shards - Pt III: Gravity
Somnia Lineup:
Noa Gruman - Vocals
Yadin Moyal - Guitar
Yanai Avnet - Bass
Yoav Steel Weinberg - Drums
Lior Goldberg - Keyboards
Orr Didi - Conductor, Musical Guidance, Additional Keyboards, Classic Guitar
Yarden Gruman, Ita Mar, Shani Gruman, Carmel Cohen - Choir
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