Label: Nuclear Blast
Review by Tony Cannella
Floor Jansen is simply awesome! With her voice and vocal range she can sing and adapt to any style of music, from opera, to power metal, to symphonic metal, to lush ballads, she can do it all. On her second album with ReVamp, entitled, “Wild Card”, Floor and her band displays their unique ability to present a multi-tiered diversified album all within a decidedly metal framework. The band is on fire and there are not too many singers better than Floor Jansen, in any genre – not just metal.
I hate to put all of the credit for ReVamp on Floor. She is obviously the focal point and most recognizable name in the band, but she is surrounded by world class musicians who contribute plenty with their talent and writing skills. It is definitely a band effort and not a Floor Jansen solo album. One of the more underrated aspects of Floor Jansen is her ability to write good lyrics. This is most evident in the “Anatomy of a Nervous Breakdown” trilogy. The first two parts of the trilogy “On the Sideline” and “The Limbic System” are hugely powerful and emotional and begin the album. The title song “Wild Card” is next and is driven by an infectious guitar riff. The third part of the trilogy “Neurasthenia” comes a few songs later and features guest vocals performed by none other than Devin Townsend. Some other guests made an appearance on the album: Marcela Bovio from Stream of Passion and Daniel de Jongh from Textures are on hand to provide choir vocals and Mark Jansen from Epica and MaYaN provides screaming vocals on my favorite song “Misery’s No Crime”. Other highlights include: “Precibus”, “Distorted Lullabies” and “Wolf and Dog”.
Coming off of her gig fronting Nightwish, it will be interesting to see what the future holds for Floor Jansen. Will she join Nightwish on a full-time basis and if she does where will that leave ReVamp? Hopefully we haven’t heard to last of ReVamp because “Wild Card” certainly hints at great things to come.
Rating – 85/100
Tracklist
- Anatomy of a Nervous Breakdown: On the Sideline
- Anatomy of a Nervous Breakdown: The Limbic System
- Wild Card
- Precibus
- Nothing
- Anatomy of a Nervous Breakdown: Neurasthenia
- Distorted Lullabies
- Amendatory
- I Can Become
- Misery’s No Crime
- Wolf and Dog
- Sins (bonus track)
Line Up
- Floor Jansen – Vocals
- Arjan Rijnen – Guitars
- Jord Otto – Guitars
- Ruben Wijga – Keyboards & Synth
- Henk Vonk – Bass
- Matthias Landes – Drums
Links