Condensed feel-good factor

Some people say that heavy metal is close to classical music. Well, that probably varies from case to case. In any case, virtuosity on the instrument or in the voice can be found in quite a few metal bands. What's more, many of the musicians in this sometimes amusing scene have undergone professional training.

Keyboardist Thomas Hiebaum sees himself as the composer of the Aargau symphonic metal band Deep Sun, which has now been in existence for almost 20 years. On their new album, the quintet mixes Storyteller all kinds of things together. Here the typically distorted metal guitar with its hard rhythmic riffs and the drum set with its fast bass attacks. Then there are the dense keyboard sounds, often reminiscent of a string orchestra, and the high soprano voice of Debora Lavagnolo, always moving in sustained melodies.

Lavagnolo writes the lyrics himself. They are about mysticism, about - as the song descriptions say - the "triumph of rebirth", about "stories from the forests or from the lakes" or about the "irrefutable strength of women". One suspects that a certain pathos, which is probably inscribed in symphonic metal, is not far away and it is also redeemed in the form of dense sound clusters, which are also heavily built up with a lot of reverb and compression. So: there are many virtuoso interludes from the guitarist and the drummer; also many episodes to sing along to and invitations to sway with a "feel-good factor". But at some point you think: a little less of everything would probably have done in the end.

Deep Sun: Storyteller. Power Blast Records