INDICA: Shine (MELODIC METAL,Rock): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Those who (metalheads in mind) knew Indica through the previous A Way Away and think they've been fooled by "Shine" (or "Akvaario" in vo) are wrong. This is not a change of direction nor an attempt to break through through with an easy pop, but simply a return to the roots.

It's been five years since Indica hadn't offered its fans any new compositions, since the album Valoissa in 2008 to be exact. After the Best Of "Pahinta Tänäään" in 2009 and their first album in English "A Way Away" in 2010 which, while aiming at the international scene, proposed a reorchestration of their most famous songs, Indica finally comes back to us, freed from the influence of Tumoas Holopainen who had plunged the band into a more Metal and symphonic dimension. The only Metal trace on this album remains the Nuclear Blast label written on the back cover.

In 2014, the band comes back to its first aspirations: an easily accessible Rock Pop but enriched with all the strength and maturity gained over the years. The girls also give up their Melodic-Fantasy influences and the abundance of violin dear to Tuuliset Tienoot (except 'Tuule Tuuli/Hush Now Baby' on which we find the high-pitched voice of Jonsuu) without making the band lose its personality. The opener 'Älä Kanna Peloka/Missing' (which we find at the end of the album in a very delicate piano/voice version) launches the album on an obvious piano melody. The organ, Jonsuu's less manipulated voice and even the chorus assert the band's new maturity.

'Sun Oma/Mountain Made Of Stone', celebrating the return of a violin full of gravity, will also start with ease where previously the band would have taken the frontal way, freezing the title in a certain linearity. Here the ensemble progresses and the incrising power at the end brings richness and interest to the exercise. To mention just one more, 'Tuuliajolla/Missing' with its romanticism exacerbated by powerful female backing vocals reveals how much the band has progressed in the last four years.

By airing their music, letting it live and be self-sufficient without trying to fill the space at all costs, Indica then gives birth to tracks like 'Lüan Kaunis Vailla Suunta/A Definite May Be', a kind of lively Pop/Rock on which the band only keeps the essential and ensures with a certain tranquility, allowing the choirs but also the guitars to gain in value. 'Nirvanaan/Shine', a cheerful track with a slightly electro intro will leave you with the same impression. You will have noticed that the electro elements make their appearance with nuance and discretion but it is especially on the delicate finale 'Onnen Syy/Lucid' that they come out, renewing the exercise of the ballad made in Indica.

What more could you ask for? A few guitar solos maybe... To conclude on an important note, the original version (in Finnish) will of course remain the best, referring to the exoticism of the first four attempts. As for the English version, it unfortunately tends to make Indica music smooth and superficial (the lyrics are limited, redundant and mawkish in the language of Shakespeare). This is the whole dilemma of Indica, stuck between national and international waters. A crucial choice awaits our ladies in the future unless they offer two versions of the album for each future release. - Official website

INDICA

SHINE

NUCLEAR BLAST

MELODIC METAL