Her Whisper - Children Of The Black Soil

Published May 09 2007

*=Staff's pick	All That Remains Children Of The Black Soil* Dawn Of War Lord Of Depravity Mind Over Matter* Theater Of The Absurd Distorted Reality Non Serviam She Burned* War Within Requiem For A Lovestory One Last Caress* Abomination*

Genre	Heavy Metal	Magnus af Nestergaard	Vocals
Tracks	13	Magnus af Nestergaard	Guitar
Runningtime	60 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	STF Records	André Samuelsson	Bass
Release	12 June 2006	Kenneth K Gilbert	Drums
Country	Sweden	Marcus Christensen	Keyboard
Similar artists	Destiny, Pagan's Mind

Swedish band Her Whisper from the west-coast town of Lysekil established themselves in 2004, and with Children Of The Black Soil they release their debut album. First of all, there is one thing confusing me a lot with Her Whisper and it took me some time before I could get pass this and to really focus on the songs, and that is the vocals. Magnus af Nestergaard has at times a striking vocal similarity with Messiah Marcolin (ex-Candlemass), and at other times with L-G Persson (The Storyteller), although there is not that much in common musically with the respective bands from those mentioned guys, even if some traces can be found. But at least you have a guy that can sing and make good use of his voice.

With that out of the way we can start focusing on the music instead, and to pin this band down is not the most easy thing either. Dark heavy metal, US power metal, progressive metal, melodic metal or simply power metal are all genres that that somewhat can be used on Her Whisper, and not seldom with a mix of them all. When the keyboard lays out carpets to make out the background and heavy riffs make the foundation that makes the song move forward, the band top it all with melodic refrains that could be suitable for power metal as well as progressive metal.

Even though it is hard to find any songs that stand out, they are all dynamic compositions and not least very well played ones. If we look at a few of the songs you have Mind Over Matter, that is one with a chorus likeness of The Storyteller in a song that moves forward in a steady mid-tempo pace. Theater Of The Absurd has more of an Evergrey approach all along from the intro with spoken words and piano through to the rest of the structure of this song with verses, chorus and even the guitar solo. Her Whisper has done an interesting album, nevertheless there are things that could be refined and even if there is a homogenous feeling on the album it tends to spread a bit too much as well as it could have been shorter. And if you ask me, it is with the two final tracks on the album, One Last Caress and Abomination, that to me is the most complete songs, that Her Whisper should carry on in the tradition of.

One thing that I think the album lack is a second guitar, and to my delight as I browsed the internet doing my homework on Her Whisper, I found that the band has expanded with Christian Widén (ex-Hellenium) on guitar since the album was recorded.

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
7	7	6	6	6

Summary
6 chalices of 10 - Thomas