Marcela Bovio - Unprecedented
Marcela Bovio – CD Review
Unprecedented
CD Info
2016
Independently released
10 Tracks
Mostly English Lyrics
9/10
Marcela Bovio’s debut solo album, Unprecedented, is not a metal album. Even so, we at Sonic Cathedral decided to review it, both because Marcela has had significant impact on the FFM scene (through Stream of Passion and other projects) and because we think it will be of interest to our readers. Marcela’s powerful, varied, and beautiful vocals on Unprecedented could easily have been set to metal guitars if she had wanted, and the string music that she chose actually conveys drama that is similar to electric guitars. Perhaps the biggest musical difference is that Unprecedented has little or no overt percussion. But that can be seen as an advantage, as it serves to highlight Marcela’s excellent vocals.
As background, Marcela is of course the lead vocalist of the Dutch progressive metal band, Stream of Passion, which she originally founded with Arjen Anthony Lucassen and then carried on after he left. However, Stream of Passion has announced that this will be their last year, with a final show scheduled for December 28, 2016 in Utrecht, The Netherlands. They explained: “Over the past eleven years we’ve had the time of our lives playing in stages all over the world and sharing moments of joy on stage. But all good things come to an end, and we feel it’s time to move on and search for new musical challenges.”
One of those new musical challenges for Marcela was releasing an acoustic solo album. Her website describes the album as follows: “Accompanied solely by a string quartet, [Marcela] explores a wide array of emotions: from the wildest dreams to the deepest fears. Her Latin roots, as well as classical and progressive influences, shine through in the songs.”
I think that’s a good description. Her voice is very good at conveying emotion. The song “Saboteurs” is an excellent example; you can see a lyric video of it here. The video for “Found!” also shows Marcela with her string quartet, here.
Unprecedented comes out on September 23. You can also see Marcela live the same day at the FemME festival in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. You can purchase a signed CD here or a download here.
