Nova Orbis – Imago
01. Castle Of Exile
02. Unstable Mind
03. Dark Delusion
04. Ancient Guardian
05. Change
06. Love Remains
07. The Lamp
08. Sarah Deserves To Rest
09. Falling Of The Empire
10. Wisdom Hunter
Imago is the second album by South American band, Nova Orbis. They experiment with a wide array of sounds ranging from gothic and symphonic metal to progressive rock. Lead singer, Ana Barajas, has improved greatly on this album compared to the band’s debut album back in 2005. Her unique style of vocals would be best described as a fusion between Lacuna Coil’s Cristina Scabbia and ex-Nightwish front-woman, Tarja Turunen.
The album opens with a track called ‘Castle of Exile’ that perfectly showcases what the band are all about. It has a slow, melancholic introduction building into a metallic, hard rock verse with symphonic overtones. They have set the barrier extremely high with this opener. However, the highlight of the record is ‘Love Remains.’ This number has proved to be the most popular among the band’s fans as shown on their MySpace play count. And it’s not difficult to see why. It’s one of the more warm moments and it certainly works. Impeccable drum and guitar work is the underlying theme of this one and Ana provides an almost monk-like chanting mid-section.
It’s a rare but enjoyable moment when you find an album where you enjoy every single track. Fans of pretty much any genre of rock would find it hard to believe that with the material they have, Nova Orbis haven’t had a great deal of media attention. It’s definitely worth a visit to iTunes to sample the tracks on offer.
Reviewed by Ben Robertson
‘Imago’ is out now on Lugga Music
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