Versatile power metal with outstanding vocals - A review of Light & Shade's The Essence of Everything

Light & Shade is more than your ordinary power metal band. It's the project of four skilled musicians from Germany, Italy and the United States of America. The quartet plays power metal with heavy riffs interwoven with symphonic and progressive keyboard backdrops. The Essence of Everything is the group's debut release that offers eleven tunes with a running time of just below fifty-five minutes.

The thing that makes the band stand out are its two extraordinary singers. Additional vocalist Marco Pastorino convinces with a raw but melodic voice that flirts with gothic rock inspirations which is used scarcely but efficiently on this release.

Lead singer Adrienne Cowan is one of the most diversified singers I have ever come across. She has harmonious clean vocals that convince both in smooth lower registers and emotive high registers. She occasionally comes around with nasty screams that make you think of a possessed witch. She can also growl better than most male counterparts as this style oozes with atmosphere and energy. She switches from one style to another with ease. There is no doubt that the skilled young singer is the highlight of this release.

The diversified songwriting manages to make her vocals stand out from uplifting symphonic power metal tracks over heartfelt ballads to mid-paced power metal tracks with a gloomy note and even successful attempts at more progressive tracks that always sound creative, entertaining and fluid as they offer more and more details with every single spin.

Forget about other female-fronted power and heavy metal bands like Battle Beast and Beyond the Black. Give the overlooked Light & Shade a chance and you will realize that The Essence of Everything easily beats any similar band with ambitious songwriting, skilled musicianship and perfect vocals. Here's hope the project continues to release new music and finally gets the attention it deserves. This release is one of the greatest unexpected surprises I have come across in a very long time.

Final rating: 95%