One hell of a great album.

This is the third studio album from Nemesea, who are (according to their BIO) a Dutch alternative rock band who seamlessly join electronic sounds with gothic rock. They aren’t and don’t but I never trust what’s written in a BIO anyway; in fact, on this album the band sound a lot like Evanescence circa their first album, mixed with washes of Within Temptation and Olzon era Nightwish.

Now that sounds like quite a combination does it not? And Nemesea have with ‘The Quiet Resistance’ an album that can stand up to albums from the other bands mentioned, with collective heads held high. The album has all the better things associated with this kind of female gothic, pop rock: punchy guitars, great vocals but above all else strong hook-filled songs. Opening cut ‘Caught In The Middle’ is a track full of piss and vinegar, the song exploding from the speakers with a lightning strike of controlled anger and a lot of attitude, which then carries on with ‘Afterlife’ a riff heavy song that has vocalist Manda Ophius pouring her heart out and putting her emotions on the line as she relates a story of love and loss. ‘High Enough’ starts off slowly but the tension in the song builds and builds until it has to break apart on the rocks of the chorus. ‘It’s Over’ is very Evanescence with the male and female vocal interplay, guest singer Marcus Lavan, really adding to the song and both singers, sing as if their lives depended on doing so, and once again the track is bursting at the seams with hooks and melodies.

‘Stay With Me’ could have come off the last Within Temptation album (yes it’s that good), the song is wonderfully arranged and the production of Joost Van Den Broek (After Forever, Sun Caged, Ayreon) is sublime. Lastly I’d like to tell you about the track ‘Allein’ which is kinda Rammstien meets Nightwish in a dark alley, not surprising really since Nemesea have used the vocal talents of Heli Reissenweber from the Rammstien tribute band Stahlzeit on vocals, his very aggressive German voice mixes amazingly well with the lighter tones of Manda and even though this is the heaviest song on the album it is also one of the best.

‘The Quiet Resistance’ is one of those albums that I loved as soon as I’d heard it, which isn’t something that often happens, every track is quality, every performance strong and full of bravado. Each song has a big chip on its shoulder, that begs you to try and knock it off and Nemesea should (I hope) make the leap from the minor leagues and into the majors with ‘The Quiet Resistance’ because it really is one hell of a great album.

Ian Johnson