Velvet Ocean
Pruposes and Promises

There are Finns sailing on the Velvet Ocean, firstly the captains Ronkainen and then a few others – it is a crew of seven. Purposes and Promises is the debut release by this crew, and it has been floating around for a while before finding its ways into the shores of the Hallowed lands. Fascination Street Studios has been giving the mix and masters to make them sound fine and they can be compared with countrymen like Nightwish or Dark Sarah.

It is on the gothic side, melodic side, maybe also dark side of the metal style and Riitu who does most of the voice parts sounds really good, there are some male vocals here as well adding some extra dynamics. They are navigating through the safest routes and doesn’t really take chances or bring anything really exciting to the table. It is kind of the things you can expect the soundscapes are modern and fine – it is a good production.

I like this one a little, it is pretty enjoyable with the good songs and vocals, nice sound – but the adventures are not really exciting enough to make them stand out. The ocean of female fronted metal is rather vast, and it is only by navigating the more unknown reaches of it you will achieve something dramatic that stands out. They play it pretty safe, sure there are good stuff like Butterfly and Truth or Illusion but those are not really memorable enough to set this apart from the rest. They need to find a better map and dare to venture into the more unknown reaches of the oceans if they want to make anything really exciting, the velvet oceans are not exciting, or interesting enough to do that.

Do you like the aforementioned bands or genres? Then there is a decent chance that you find this one agreeable, or even great, but from a more critical standpoint it is really difficult to see that these guys do anything of real value. But they do solid stuff, they didn’t get lost in the oceans so perhaps this is a declaration of purposes and promises for a better future, they do show some glimpses of quality, so it isn’t too far-fetched to think that.

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