lahannya defiance

Released: 11 October 2009 Label: Kabuki Records

Lahannya, originating from Brighton but now based in London has been around on the underground scene for a few years, producing a couple of EPs (Drowning 2001 and Welcome to the Underground 2008) and a full length album, Shotgun Reality (2007). She has also appeared with a number of other artists, so she’s not short of experience or confidence.

This fourth recording from Lahannya, Defiance, opens with the generic gothic / symphonic Gregorian chant with atmospheric music and you think ‘oh dear, just what the world needs, another lady fronted goth metal band’.

But, actually, once the music starts it’s not as bad as all that. The lady’s vocal style is very similar to that of Lilly Hruska (Sunterra), but the music is more industrial with less of a symphonic influence than the intro would indicate. So there’s a clear gothic influence, and then there’s the fact that Lahannya is undoubtedly female. So yes, that’s technically a lady fronted goth metal band, o which there are many around, with varying degrees of success. This one though, is a bit different.

So much of what we have on this album is upbeat, the vocal production is excellent, although there’s a fuzzy edge to the guitars that I hope is due to this promo, and overall the band sounds pretty tight.

The real difference is the fusion of indie / alterative styles with the stronger metal elements to give it a more urban flavour than the aforementioned genre sterotypes. It’s the sort of thing that Evanescence tried to do with Fallen, but heavier and not as commercial.

The early tracks on the album kind of feel their way into the aural landscape, burbling along with a sort of general meander, but from Burn onwards the songs get stronger and stronger until the bizarre Kill Me If You Care, and then the last two tracks ease you back out of the album.

It’s a pleasant enough piece of work that never really demands attention, but then, it can’t be ignored either. That the lady can sing is beyond question. This is unlikely to be a breakthrough album for Lahannya, but then I don’t know if it’s intended to be. It just seems to be an expression of where the lady is just now.

by Alan Thomson