If gothic metal is your style, you’ll want to give Coronatus a listen. Their new album Porta Obscura was released last week on November 28th, just 14 months after their impressive debut Lux Noctis. The band’s overall symphonic metal style have continued on to Porta Obscura, which is available in two versions. The standard version has 11 songs, and the limited edition contains 2 bonus tracks including a song from the band’s early days in 2002.

While female-fronted metal bands seem to be all the rage lately, Coronatus has put their own spin on this popular trend by having two female singers instead of just one. Carmen Schäfer and Ada Flechtner each provide a different sound as well, one is a rock style vocalist and the other is more classical and operatic. Some critics have said that this still doesn’t make the band unique because it’s been done before, which is true, but it is definitely less common than the typical one-male, one-female, or one-of-each singers that most bands utilize. In any case, it’s always best to determine for yourself whether a band sounds good or not, so let’s move on to the samples…

For online listening, Coronatus has provided 3 one-minute MP3 samples from Porta Obscura that you can get on their website’s Download page, right below a full-length track from last year’s debut. If you like those and want to get the album, you’ll be happy to know that it’s being widely distributed by Massacre Records. Amazon.com has both versions of Porta Obscura (standard version and limited edition), and although they are listed as imports, buying them there will still be a lot cheaper than importing them yourself from some other German site. Coronatus’s debut Lux Noctis is also available from Amazon.com as either a CD or as an MP3 download. If you’re in Europe, you can find all Coronatus albums on AlphaMusic.de.

Coronatus - Porta Obscura track listing:
01. Prologue
02. Exitus
03. Fallen
04. In Silence
05. Beauty In Black
06. Cast My Spell
07. In Your Hands
08. Mein Herz
09. Am Kreuz
10. Der Vierte Reiter
11. Strahlendster Erster
12. Flos Obscura (Bonus Track)
13. Volles Leben (2002) (Bonus Track)