The trio of Clémentine Delauney, Anna Brunner, and Marina La Torraca not only bring their vocal strength to Exit Eden, they also bring their feminine strength and their sophomore album Femmes Fatales wonderfully captures their sheer brawn and brazen talent.
Formed in 2017, Exit Eden released Rhapsodies in Black which included vocalist Amanda Somerville, who has exited to take care of her family. The combined vocal prowess of Exit Eden is not only a powerful reminder that women are not an accessory to the metal world, but have a rightful place amongst the male vocals of metal. With their voices providing power and magic, Exit Eden expands the metal base to fans who may fear to step through the open doors.
What I enjoyed about Femmes Fatales is that the album is a rock album. The trio of divas moved beyond symphonic metal and made an album that is seared in rock and salted and peppered with metal and pop. The vocals for the album are less operatic and symphonic and more emotional and rich. The latter allows for a connection to a wider audience that may look at anything metal related and shy away from it.
The twelve songs of Femmes Fatales are a mix of originals and covers. Five of the originals were written by Anna with Hannes Braun (Kissin’ Dynamite) and one “Dying in My Dreams” co-written by Marina. The cover songs include covers of Pet Shop Boys, “It’s a Sin”, Journey, “Separate Ways,” Mylène Farmer, “Désenchantée”, Alice Cooper, “Poison”, Heart, “Alone”, and Marilion “Kayleigh”.
Stand out original songs “Femme Fatales” and “Run!” featuring Marko Hietala are absolute rockers. They evoke essences of the witchy wonder woman Stevie Nicks and the soulful Janis Joplin.
There are spirits of the originals that could be heard, but Exit Eden elevated and made “Separate Ways” and “Alone” their songs. The songs blend their voices in perfect harmony to capture their power and potency.
With a band of strong independent women and vocals to match, it could have been easy to fall into a cat fight for dominance, but each song plays to the strength of women. They compliment each other instead of fighting each other for attention or space. It’s this unity and cohesion that makes Femme Fatales a strikingly great album. Infused with wonderful basslines, strings, and orchestral moments, Femme Fatales music is in union with the vocals.
Femmes Fatales defines strength. Strength in not only owning the power of one’s femininity but one’s voice.
MUST LISTEN TRACKS: “Femme Fatale”, “Run!”, “It’s a Sin”, “Separate Ways”, “Désenchantée”, “Alone”
