Album Of The Week: Maximalism by Amaranthe

Believe it or not this week's pick for Album of the Week on my blog is an album that I initially did not like but as it turns out I absolutely love. When I first heard the new album Maximalism by the gothic metal band Amaranthe, I was a bit turned off by what I had heard especially "Maximize" which fuses EDM with the band's brand of melodic metal. That was late last year. Fast forward to last week when I picked up the band's new album as well as the new Epica album. Must to my surprise I found myself enjoying the album. Maximalism is just loaded with the catchiest hooks I have heard from the band in recent years.

Truth be told Massive Addictive fell a little flat with me after their oh so wonderful The Nexus. Considering that I now enjoy Maximalism, I think I will give Massive Addictive another shot again.

I am sad that co-vocalist Jake E. has recently left the band so it will be interesting on future recordings how his replacement sounds with Elize and Henrik's vocals. I always enjoyed listening to Jake E.sing with his bandmates.

While most of the album was pretty accessible and very melodic, there were a couple of tracks on the album that needed some time to grow on me  "Fury" and "Faster" which features Henrik on lead vocals. Harsh, distorted vocals are a hit or miss with me. In Henrik's case, I think he sounds better in the background than singing lead on a couple of tracks.  "Fury" and "Faster" are okay songs but for me they lack the pop-friendly hooks and energy that I love in songs such as "On The Rocks" and "Supersonic". I love that the album closes with the gorgeous ballad "Endlessly".

I'm glad I decided to give Maximalism another shot. I admit, I was wrong about the album. This is probably the one time I am glad to be wrong about something.

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