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)

Veljanov - “His Vita”
Alexander Veljanov gave us a very generous sample (almost 4 minutes long!) of a song from his forthcoming solo album Porta Macedonia a few days ago. As you’d expect, his vocals are superbly executed, but the music itself isn’t quite as powerful as what Ernst Horn produces with him for Deine Lakaien. Go check out the song “His Vita” on Veljanov’s MySpace page and hear for yourself.

Markus Winter - “Life Ain’t Worth Living”
Markus Winter also has a new sample of his upcoming single “Life Ain’t Worth Living“. It’s much shorter than the Veljanov sample, but should still give you an idea of what his 2009 album Life In Uncertain Times should sound like. You can hear the sample on the Hertzton MySpace page.

Sinnflut is back with their 6th studio album to date, Epik, which will be released on Biohazzard Records. There have been conflicting release dates, either today (May 23rd) or next week (May 30th), but the date doesn’t matter as much as the phenomenal music does. Sinnflut and combines symphonic and darkwave elements in the manner of Janus or Der Eremit. It’s a really great sound that should appeal to a variety of listeners.

Check out the extended MP3 samples of Epik that are available for download on the band’s website. They also have a few full length songs from various albums on this page. There’s also a “music video” that the band posted on YouTube, but I’m not posting the actual video for it here because it’s not really worth watching. It’s better just so you can hear another full length song.

If you like what you hear, you can get the album from either AlphaMusic.de which has it the cheapest at 9.99, or you can choose to pay a bit more but support the band more directly by getting it from their own website for €12.00.

Sinnflut - Epik tracklisting
01. Intro
02. Wortkarg
03. Wie ein Gewittern
04. Wenn es leise wird
05. Spiegelverkehrt
06. Sie atmet nicht einmal
07. Mir ist das Bild
08. Eine Last voll Glück