Respect for Female Fronted Symphonic Metal

“Female-fronted metal” isn’t just a metal band with a frontwoman — there are plenty of those  — it’s its own sort of genre. The term tends to connote clean, even operatic female vocals working as a foil for lush-to-a-fault symphonic metal. It can be troublesomely easy for some listeners to forget they are listening to metal. Virginie Goncalves, lead vocalist for popular French metal band KELLS, fulfills all the requirements for a female-fronted metal diva and then transcends them. And, as a band, KELLS does the same.

A willingness to push boundaries is evident on their their album Anachromie. Industrial droning, late-model melodic hardcore, and symphonic metal elements combine with Goncalve’s emotive vocals to makes something that’s powerful without being raw. The clean vocals and antiseptic production can give certain passages a feeling of cold surgical steel. There’s a heavy, groovy side to this album, but the cleanness and melodic backbone make it spine tingling in a way that chug-chug riffs and uninterrupted cookie monster voice can never be.

Certainly, the combination result in something very accessible, but it’s not quite music for the kids — shouldn’t that feel … grubbier? The production coats each element in a fine hard lacquer. It’s raw metal aggression filed to a sharp point. It calls to mind perfectly manicured black talons, and other must-have accessories for glamorous outlaws. Don’t imagine that this is an album that pulls it’s punches of settles for half measures. Goncalves voice is clear and bell-like when she uses it that way, and it can be just as pulse-pounding as a roar. But when she screams it’s as raw and cathartic as it is sublimely beautiful. And that too pretty production? It ensures you can hear not just the pitch but the very grain of her vocals. If you are considering exploring the realm of symphonic metal with a diva out front, you could do a lot worse than to start with Anachromie. If it’s already your bag, you’ve got to hear this.