Release Date: 3 February 2023
Song Count: 13
Rating: 8.1/10
Description:
Curse you, 2 a.m. me, for forgetting to write an actually well thought-out review last time!
Wishing to seek more music from the brilliant talents within the symphonic metal band Xandria from not only my home country, but my home state as well, here we arrive once more, this time with the album preceding the newest EP of theirs, Universal Tales, from the previous day. The Wonders Still Waiting is the eighth studio album from the long-lasting band and the first one to fully feature their current lineup with replacements for lead vocals, drums and bass.
In terms of sound, this album is - as to be expected - strikingly similar to the original songs of the EP reviewed previously; the songs are fast, loud, energetic and filled with rich melodic intricacies, and every single instrument, including the vocals, feel like they've been dialed up to eleven on the measurement of power and sheer dedication to being on their A-game. More is being offered here than just your run-off-the-mill metal composition as well, with unique sounds like those of violins and cellos (most prominent in the track "Your Stories I'll Remember"), keys, pipes and choirs of various ages enhancing the athmosphere on several steps of the way and adding an additional pinch of memorability.
While many tracks The Wonders Still Awaiting has to offer are radiating more than enough energy and scale to be top songs in their own rights on most other albums, they ultimately share the fate of having to contest against each other, making the choice for picking out highlights quite tough. If hats were to be thrown into the ring by me, however, the choices would likely be the strong ballad-like "Your Stories I'll Remember", the long and fittingly grand closer "Astèria" in a 12/8 tact, the more grim and tragic yet still musically electric "Mirror of Time", and the one that best manages to capture immediate attention and hit just in the right spots, "Ghosts".
From the perspective of someone coming right off of one of Xandria's other works outright hungry for more of this kind of music, The Wonders Still Awaiting fills that gap thoroughly, especially with its larger catalogue of songs and longer duration - in much simpler terms, it is essentially "the previous one, but more of what made it good". Definitely an album worth at least a metaphorical visit or two for anyone into this kind of stuff.