The band’s founder, Marco, considers the “tearing down of the hard façade”, as he aptly characterizes the development from the death metal of the late Eighties to the much more complex contemporary dark metal scene, the pivotal point of Xandria’s work. Consequently, the quintet don’t revel in any kind of musical muscle play but demonstrate toughness only where a track’s dramaturgy requires it. It’s the melodies that matter, and yes, these may occasionally sound a little more poppy than the metal scene’s ideologists will approve of. But once you’ve come to accept the fact that pop and commercialism do not necessarily have to go hand in hand, you’ll discover that there can be only one winner whenever these widely accepted borders are crossed: a good song. And precisely this is what happens ten times in succession on “Kill the Sun”.

By reflex action, you could award Xandria a label like “Germany’s answer to Lacuna Coil, Nightwish, After Forever and Within Temptation ”, but these comparisons don’t do justice to the material’s diversity. Xandria know how do deal with influences in our age of post-modernism: in precisely the same measure that band names become synonymous with certain atmospheres and emotions that due to their complexity would otherwise be difficult to put into adequate words, quotation becomes a legitimate medium for musicians that refuse to be held back by the stylistic catalogue of the contemporary gothic scene, but consciously orientate themselves to its sound range. Xandria quote easily and without any inhibition, at the same time they submit all references to other artists to their own creative process, using them, as it were, in virtuoso style as abstract instruments. Released on Artoffact and available December 4th, 2009.