*. Misth .*

Album: Rise of a New Day (2013)
Genre: Prog Metal (Melodic/Hard Rock)  /  Sweden

Female fronted Swedish metal band Misth may be new in name, but its members are veterans of the Swedish music scene. If you notice, I said music and not metal because extraordinary lead singer Maria Rådsten has never been in a metal band before. Die hard fans of Swedish pop music and Eurovision may recognize the name Maria Rådsten as she was a member of the group One More Time which actually placed 3rd in Eurovision in 1996. After listening to several songs of One More Time and listening to Maria's incredible performance on Misth's debut album Rise of a New Day, I would say she definitely has made the right move in moving into metal. Maria teamed up with the band members of the hard rock/heavy metal band Mercury Fang to form Misth. Mercury Fang is noted for playing hard rock, ala Whitesnake, with a distinct metal edge to the music. Although Rise of a New Day certainly has its roots in progressive metal, the music definitely has some hard rock and heavy metal influence to the music. This makes perfect sense given the band members accompanying Maria. The music on Rise of a New Day is very accessible with plenty of catchy chorus's and some very nice harmonies. The Whitesnake influence to the progressive metal music is very nice. Maria is very animated and emotional at times with her vocals and is just a joy to listen to. Her vocals work equally as well on the more progressive metal portions of the album as well as the progressive hard rock portions. Although Maria stands out on vocals and is very high in the mix, don't despair as the musicianship on Rise of a New Day is excellent. This is a progressive metal album and there are plenty of instrumental sections where the band gets to shine. The keyboard playing is the most memorable to me. This should be expected given this is a progressive metal album, but I don't think it is overdone and we do get some "nicer" moments, too. There is definitely a keyboard atmosphere at times which is very nice. The guitar work is very good, whether playing the melodic solos, some heavy progressive riffing or even some straight heavy metal riffs. I like the variety of songs on Rise of a New Day  as the band does not get "stuck" on just one sound. Maria displays so much versatility to her voice,  whether singing the more metal songs or the ones with more of a rock vibe. In fact, there is such a variety of songs and emotions displayed out of Maria's vocals, Rise of a New Day really feels like a concept album or metal/rock opera to me. Fans of female fronted metal/rock really need to check out Rise of a New Day. Maria's performance is certainly the female vocal highlight of 2013 and one of the best I have heard in my 5+years on RYM. Congratulations to Maria and the rest of Misth for an excellent debut album. I would normally give Rise of a New Day a 4.5 star rating just focusing on the music, but Maria's performance is so good that I am raising my rating to 5 star! 
Review by "Butterflyman" (Rate Your Music).

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