Pandoras Key is a Dutch female fronted symphonic metal band which consists of vocalist Maaike Rijk, guitar player and occasional grunter Sebastiaan Pongers, keyboardist Desmond Robberegt and a rhythm section that holds bass player Regine Lotstra and drummer Patrick Sacre. This fairly new band released an EP; Prometheus Promise, which holds a twenty minutes epos telling the story about the great battle of Constantinople in 1453, historically ending the middle ages. Regarding the nicely chosen topic, I would consider that twenty minutes of music would not be enough to cover this historical epic. Nevertheless, Pandoras Key needs to start somewhere and delivers a well-produced album, filled with balanced compositions. Musically there is barely anything to complain about, well played guitar parts and keyboards dominate the EP and the vocals of Maaike are pleasantly accessible. Maaike's voice tends more towards Within Temptation's Sharon De Adel's non-theatrical, classical vocals. The spoken words that are used to tell the story are well used, nicely dosed. What does bother me on Prometheus Promise is the sound of the bass drum. This flat, non-organic sound starts to annoy me after several spins and while listening I start to doubt whether they are real or programmed. But all in all this release is a nice showcase for Pandoras Box to take them to the next level. *** Thomas Rhymer (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
