Xandria - Sacrificium (2014, 2CD)
Year & Label: 2014, Napalm Records Handels GmbH | CD#: NPR 534
Flac (image) | MP3 CBR 320 Kbps | Artwork (JPG, 300 dpi) | File-hosts: Uploaded.net
Symphonic Metal | FLAC: 1 GB | Artwork: 60 MB | MP3: 340 MB | 5% WinRAR Recovery
EAC Secure-rip with LOG+CUE+COVERS | Source: torrents
Limited edition Digibook with bonus CD
Year & Label: 2014, Napalm Records Handels GmbH | CD#: NPR 534
Flac (image) | MP3 CBR 320 Kbps | Artwork (JPG, 300 dpi) | File-hosts: Uploaded.net
Symphonic Metal | FLAC: 1 GB | Artwork: 60 MB | MP3: 340 MB | 5% WinRAR Recovery
EAC Secure-rip with LOG+CUE+COVERS | Source: torrents
Limited edition Digibook with bonus CD
2014 has already been a fantastic year for symphonic metal. It’s only April, but we’ve already had such established bands such as Delain, Within Temptation and Stream of Passion release their best albums to date, and several other fantastic albums coming from the likes of Diabulus in Musica, Anette Olzon and Seventh Sin. And just when you start to think that there’s no way the year can possibly keep up the degree of excellence we’ve already been offered, the German band Xandria’s new album Sacrificium is their best album to date by a LONG way. Their first three albums were middle of the road pop tinged gothic metal, definitely not up there with the best of the genre, and for their previous album Neverworld’s End, featuring the now departed singer Manuela Kraller on her first and only album with the group, they moved towards a more symphonic sound, and released a half-decent album, but really nothing special. In short, I’ve never been a Xandria fan, so when I got sent Sacrificium I had NO idea just how brilliant it would be, and that it would be on one of the most exciting symphonic metal releases I’d ever have the pleasure to hear, and I don’t say that lightly.Musicians:
With the departure of Manuela Kraller, the band have found a replacement in Ex Libris vocalist Dianne Van Giersbergen, who simply one of the best voices I’ve ever heard, I was absolutely blown away by how amazing she sounds. Classically trained, her voice throughout the album is incredibly powerful, as much as any woman I’ve ever heard, yet very rich sounding and stunningly beautiful. Her voice is a joy to listen to throughout the album, and never having heard her sing before, it immediately struck a chord. It would be unfair to compare her to other singers in the genre, as her voice doesn’t sound exactly like a lot of them, she’s in a league of her own. And it’s not just the vocals that are stunning, but the rest of the music is too. The theme of the album seems to be a sense of supreme power, as it sounds exciting and powerful from start to finish. The symphonic sections on the album are out of this world, the arrangement is brilliant, but it’s the way it combines with the metal elements that makes it really stand out, they blend perfectly. Symphonic music can have an emphasis on the powerful, and when intertwined so well with another powerful style in heavy metal it just becomes this epic, exciting sound that gives the listener a real rush. The composition on Sacrificium is incredible from the outset, opening with the ten minute title track, beginning with dramatic sounding symphonics before kicking in with some of the best used choirs I’ve heard in symphonic metal, really heavy pounding guitars, and the symphonics becoming melodic, sweeping and triumphant sounding. With the introduction of Dianne Van Giersbergen’s beautiful yet strong voice, the track becomes an absolute epic, with all these incredible elements tying together to create one sweeping flurry of pure drama, beauty and power, and with none of the cheesy bombast that can plague the genre. The guitar playing is fantastic, with the song filled with fast, epic sounding riffs with a really thick heavy tone and great melodic leads, the guitar solos in the middle of the track are really well placed and brimming with energy. Opening the album with such a great ten minute symphonic metal masterpiece shows just how far the band have come, this is certainly not the pop oriented sound of the earlier albums, but the sound of a band that have finally found their niche in fantastic style. Ending with the beautifully sung line “when I take my last…breath” it certainly leaves the listener breathless themselves.
The epic, powerful sound of the title track continues through the rest of the album, with next track Nightfall having a glorious sound, with an epic uplifting chorus and fantastic guitar playing making it seem like it will be a permanent fixture on future setlists, while the first single Dreamkeeper is a slower affair, with another catchy chorus and great headbangable rhythm to it, making it a really fun track, though definitely sounding like the single of the album. Dianne Van Giersbergen uses her clean vocal style much more than her more classical oriented style on this song, and it’s sublime. Stardust continues that in the same vein, and with pounding drums, deep rumbling bass and a mixture of equally catchy chugging and melodic riffs combined with sweeping keyboards, its another supreme effort, and that heavy breakdown in the middle is bound to leave some listeners with a sore neck.
Betrayer is the heaviest track on the album, brimming with energy, with some of the album’s most heavy riffs and drumming, accentuated by one of Dianne’s best performances on the album and the dramatic sounding symphonies. Crunching and fast bass playing combined with the powerful drumming and riffs give the track the best rhythm section of the album, pounding away with a ferocious energy. Every section sounds beyond epic, and it all combines into a sweeping dramatic piece, a lesson to everyone out there on how to write a symphonic metal song. Little Red Relish and Come With Me are two more uplifting, madly catchy songs, and ones which would be really good live, especially with the headbang inducing riffage at the end of the former. The strings and piano at the beginning of Our Neverworld create a great atmosphere, and it’s a slower song with more great singing and guitar playing, but it gives the album a bit of variation, going for the uplifting and stirring, rather than the dramatic and triumphant. Temple of Hate is another incredibly catchy one, with an infectious fiddle melody in the intro and great string sections through out, one of the more straightforward tracks, this is a really fun power metal track. Closer Our Atonement is a more melancholic track, with the only instruments consisting of fantastic violin and piano melodies, giving a gorgeous backdrop to Dianne’s voice, and it’s a great way to close a great album.
Sacrificium is one of the finest examples of symphonic metal around, and one with the real emphasis on the symphonic elements, the album has some of the best composition I’ve ever heard in the genre, and the way it intertwines with the powerful guitar oriented metal sound of the album is simply unparalleled. While some bands in the style sound like metal with orchestral parts tacked on, this is a perfect mixture of the two and it flows so well. And with their brilliant new singer in Dianne Van Giersbergen being a perfect fit for their style, Sacrificium is a real triumph, really refreshing and full of life. At over an hour in length it rarely lets up, and if you like your metal full of symphony, and enjoy bands such as Epica then you’re bound to be blown away by this.
www.metal-archives.com
Vocals (female) : Dianne van Giersbergen
Guitars, Vocals, Keyboards : Marco Heubaum
Bass : Steven Wussow
Guitars : Philip Restermeier
Drums : Gerit Lamm
Produced by Marco Heubaum and joost van den Broek
Mixed by Sascha Paeth at Gate Studios, Germany
CD1 Track List:
01. Sacrificium [10:07]
02. Nightfall [3:56]
03. Dreamkeeper [4:36]
04. Stardust [5:33]
05. The Undiscovered Land [7:22]
06. Betrayer [6:06]
07. Until The End [5:39]
08. Come With Me [4:56]
09. Little Red Relish [4:32]
10. Our Neverworld [3:46]
11. Temple Of Hate [5:50]
12. Sweet Atonement [4:14]
CD2 Track List:
01. The Watcher (Exclusive Bonus Track) [4:49]
02. Sacrificium (Instrumental) [10:05]
03. Nightfall (Instrumental) [3:57]
04. Dreamkeeper (Instrumental) [4:38]
05. Stardust (Instrumental) [5:33]
06. The Undiscovered Land (Instrumental) [7:23]
07. Betrayer (Instrumental) [6:07]
08. Until The End (Instrumental) [5:39]
09. Come With Me (Instrumental) [4:57]
10. Little Red Relish (Instrumental) [4:34]
11. Our Neverworld (Instrumental) [3:46]
12. Temple Of Hate (Instrumental) [5:51]
13. Sweet Atonement (Instrumental) [4:14]
Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011
EAC extraction logfile from 1. May 2014, 13:27
Xandria / Sacrificium (Limited Edition) CD 1
Used drive : HP DVD Writer 1170d Adapter: 0 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 768 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\FLAC\FLAC.EXE
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "Date=%year%" -T "Genre=%genre%" -T"COMMENT=Ripped by Ungern666" -8 -V %source%
TOC of the extracted CD
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Range status and errors
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Filename C:\EAC\Ungern666\Xandria - Sacrificium (Limited Edition) CD 1.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 8.0 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 4488ED1E
Copy CRC 4488ED1E
Copy OK
No errors occurred
AccurateRip summary
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None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
End of status report
==== Log checksum 370DD241E5DCED6E4B408CAD4D5DAE3C279B55D8A7D9157F65627C2FDF475666 ====
=======================================================================================
Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011
EAC extraction logfile from 1. May 2014, 13:52
Xandria / Sacrificium (Limited Edition) CD 2
Used drive : HP DVD Writer 1170d Adapter: 0 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 768 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\FLAC\FLAC.EXE
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "Date=%year%" -T "Genre=%genre%" -T"COMMENT=Ripped by Ungern666" -8 -V %source%
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
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1 | 0:00.00 | 4:48.62 | 0 | 21661
2 | 4:48.62 | 10:04.47 | 21662 | 67008
3 | 14:53.34 | 3:56.46 | 67009 | 84754
4 | 18:50.05 | 4:38.03 | 84755 | 105607
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7 | 36:24.67 | 6:06.62 | 163867 | 191378
8 | 42:31.54 | 5:39.11 | 191379 | 216814
9 | 48:10.65 | 4:57.21 | 216815 | 239110
10 | 53:08.11 | 4:34.29 | 239111 | 259689
11 | 57:42.40 | 3:46.00 | 259690 | 276639
12 | 61:28.40 | 5:51.21 | 276640 | 302985
13 | 67:19.61 | 4:13.55 | 302986 | 322015
Range status and errors
Selected range
Filename C:\EAC\Ungern666\Xandria - Sacrificium (Limited Edition) CD 2.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 8.3 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC F9090FCE
Copy CRC F9090FCE
Copy OK
No errors occurred
AccurateRip summary
Track 1 not present in database
Track 2 not present in database
Track 3 not present in database
Track 4 not present in database
Track 5 not present in database
Track 6 not present in database
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None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
End of status report
==== Log checksum AEEE87CA6542A32C58FCBBFFEECC5B14FAA617E9B78EEEE2A459B4E0932DC832 ====
EAC extraction logfile from 1. May 2014, 13:27
Xandria / Sacrificium (Limited Edition) CD 1
Used drive : HP DVD Writer 1170d Adapter: 0 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 768 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\FLAC\FLAC.EXE
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "Date=%year%" -T "Genre=%genre%" -T"COMMENT=Ripped by Ungern666" -8 -V %source%
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 10:07.05 | 0 | 45529
2 | 10:07.05 | 3:56.05 | 45530 | 63234
3 | 14:03.10 | 4:36.17 | 63235 | 83951
4 | 18:39.27 | 5:32.51 | 83952 | 108902
5 | 24:12.03 | 7:22.22 | 108903 | 142074
6 | 31:34.25 | 6:06.36 | 142075 | 169560
7 | 37:40.61 | 5:39.00 | 169561 | 194985
8 | 43:19.61 | 4:56.25 | 194986 | 217210
9 | 48:16.11 | 4:32.30 | 217211 | 237640
10 | 52:48.41 | 3:45.47 | 237641 | 254562
11 | 56:34.13 | 5:49.72 | 254563 | 280809
12 | 62:24.10 | 4:13.55 | 280810 | 299839
Range status and errors
Selected range
Filename C:\EAC\Ungern666\Xandria - Sacrificium (Limited Edition) CD 1.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 8.0 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 4488ED1E
Copy CRC 4488ED1E
Copy OK
No errors occurred
AccurateRip summary
Track 1 not present in database
Track 2 not present in database
Track 3 not present in database
Track 4 not present in database
Track 5 not present in database
Track 6 not present in database
Track 7 not present in database
Track 8 not present in database
Track 9 not present in database
Track 10 not present in database
Track 11 not present in database
Track 12 not present in database
None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
End of status report
==== Log checksum 370DD241E5DCED6E4B408CAD4D5DAE3C279B55D8A7D9157F65627C2FDF475666 ====
=======================================================================================
Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011
EAC extraction logfile from 1. May 2014, 13:52
Xandria / Sacrificium (Limited Edition) CD 2
Used drive : HP DVD Writer 1170d Adapter: 0 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 768 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\FLAC\FLAC.EXE
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "Date=%year%" -T "Genre=%genre%" -T"COMMENT=Ripped by Ungern666" -8 -V %source%
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 4:48.62 | 0 | 21661
2 | 4:48.62 | 10:04.47 | 21662 | 67008
3 | 14:53.34 | 3:56.46 | 67009 | 84754
4 | 18:50.05 | 4:38.03 | 84755 | 105607
5 | 23:28.08 | 5:33.30 | 105608 | 130612
6 | 29:01.38 | 7:23.29 | 130613 | 163866
7 | 36:24.67 | 6:06.62 | 163867 | 191378
8 | 42:31.54 | 5:39.11 | 191379 | 216814
9 | 48:10.65 | 4:57.21 | 216815 | 239110
10 | 53:08.11 | 4:34.29 | 239111 | 259689
11 | 57:42.40 | 3:46.00 | 259690 | 276639
12 | 61:28.40 | 5:51.21 | 276640 | 302985
13 | 67:19.61 | 4:13.55 | 302986 | 322015
Range status and errors
Selected range
Filename C:\EAC\Ungern666\Xandria - Sacrificium (Limited Edition) CD 2.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 8.3 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC F9090FCE
Copy CRC F9090FCE
Copy OK
No errors occurred
AccurateRip summary
Track 1 not present in database
Track 2 not present in database
Track 3 not present in database
Track 4 not present in database
Track 5 not present in database
Track 6 not present in database
Track 7 not present in database
Track 8 not present in database
Track 9 not present in database
Track 10 not present in database
Track 11 not present in database
Track 12 not present in database
Track 13 not present in database
None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
End of status report
==== Log checksum AEEE87CA6542A32C58FCBBFFEECC5B14FAA617E9B78EEEE2A459B4E0932DC832 ====
Not my rip, not my scan-job. Thx very much to the original uploader ungern666!
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5% WinRar Recovery Record for all files.
Try before you might buy. Support the artists you like and buy their stuff whenever you can afford it.