Australia’s Victoria K, returns to recording and releasing albums, with the release of their sophomore album Kore. The album will be released October 14, 2022, by Rockshots Records. Their debut, Essentia, was highly praised back in 2020; earning Victoria Knight and the band many awards, as well as festival and concert appearances.
Victoria K is made up of members: Victoria Knight, who sings lead vocals; Julia Mammone, on guitar; Charlie Curnow, on bass, and extreme vocals; and James Davies, on drums.
For Kore, the band choose to explore modern-day issues through the “Homeric Hymn to Demeter”, (the story of Persephone). “Victoria K conceptualized the idea for the album with her producer Lee Bradshaw and then spent many months researching and analyzing the “Homeric Hymn to Demeter”, even meeting with experts of the Homeric Hymns from Greece. The story was then broken up into its different parts where Victoria Knight wrote the lyrics and developed the melodies for each section of the tale, exploring the myth from a modern perspective”.
The various instruments on Kore, were then written by Victoria around the lyrics and further enhanced and developed through the production process. Lee Bradshaw then finalized the songs by writing orchestral scores for each song, which were recorded live in Europe, before the final mixing and mastering.
“We wanted to take a new approach with this record and to grow our sound and bring something new to Victoria K. Incorporating sounds from our vocalist’s ethnic culture and heritage, and it is something we are so extremely proud of! A concept album is something we really wanted to explore, and we are so excited to bring you this ancient story and create a sonic experience and journey for all our listeners. We cannot wait to share this new stage of Victoria K!”
The band explains further: “This idea and concept sparked a lot of ideas, taking inspiration from events and questions that we face in our current society. Questions such as the existence of a divine power, and why we praise higher powers both spiritually speaking and in our physical world. It also raises ideas about our current social regimes, like capitalism, as well as the toxicity of materialist and consumerist cultures. Aspects of the song, “Tower”, touch upon the exploitation of the middle and lower class. This is a topic that we wanted to bring forward, as musicians, artists, and writers as we feel it is relevant and important. This song also takes a lot of inspiration from ethnic sounds. The chanting is sung in ancient Greek, meant to imitate marching and worship, this ties into the message that the song is trying to convey.”
Well, consider all the work put into this album a resounding success! Every track on this album is full of great lyrics, well developed and felt emotions and feelings expressed. You will not be able to stop this album once it gets started. You will want to listen to the entire story. It is that good. The symphonic and progressive influences are all over this music. Put on headphones to appreciate all of the intricacies and quiet moments, no matter how few.
I thoroughly enjoyed the entire album. But my favorites were:
“Mother’s Garden”, with its beckoning keyboards, blitzing electric guitars and those pace-setting drums. The quiet, more symphonic moments, when Victoria Knight is singing softly are magical.
“The Child”, opens with soft vocals from Victoria, along with symphonic orchestration, before the drums and guitars join in. The strings and soft chords which play near the end of the piece are stunning.
“A Divine Revelation”, is one of my favorites off this album. Victoria’s depth of character and love for this story can be felt with every note she sings. She is “alive” in this story as if it were real. You can feel it in her vocal delivery. So much time and effort was put into delivering the lyrics and story in just the right way. I take my hat off to her and the band for trying to bring such a powerful story to life with music. She sings in Greek to add to the authenticity of this masterpiece.
“Tower”, is the longest and best song on the album. I knew it would be great, when I read the info above, about the song, that they included in the press kit. When I saw the accompanying video, I saw that it all brought everything together, full circle. Victoria’s singing, especially the Greek verses; Charlie Curnow’s middle song bass, and his extreme vocals, to balance the sound, and make the story more adversarial; Julia Mammone’s absolutely brilliant guitar solos; and those drums. Yes, James Davies drums; rocked the house. This is the crowning achievement and single they have highlighted well.
“Epilogue”, is a wonderful soft piano fade out that closes the album perfectly.
For those who wish female metal bands would expand their sound into more progressive themes, with full concept albums, this is your cup of tea. They did it here. Drink up this glorious, fermented concept album of Ancient Greek mythology and literature. Enjoy a story laid before your ears from a singer born of the homeland for which she sings. The emotions she must have felt in bringing this concept to life must have been overwhelming. Sit back and enjoy the work this band put into this masterpiece.
Kore delivers a progressive symphonic sound, with a full orchestral experience that should elevate the band’s coverage globally even further. Kore is recommended for fans of Lacuna Coil, Rammstein, Within Temptation, Spirit Box, and Delain.
Track List:
01 – Prologue – 1:10
02 – Raptum – 5:12
03 – Mothers’ Garden – 4:34
04 – The Child – 4:01
05 – Persephone – 5:19
06 – A Divine Revelation – 7:09
07 – Tower – 7:30
08 – Blasphemia – 5:44
09 – Pomegranate – 5:53
10 – The Afterlife – 3:59
11 – Epilogue – 0:54
Social Media:
https://www.victoriakmusicofficial.com/
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