Album Review: Couture and Metal Converge in ANA’s 'Motivated By Death'

Well, metal enthusiasts, I think we should start getting ready for the runway. Because we want to introduce you to a group of symphonic metal fashion plates. A group that calls their music Couture Metal!

Enter, ANA of Melbourne, Australia, with their new album, Motivated By Death. This powerhouse band is led by the stylish and operatic Anna Khristenko, who appears as though she were born to simultaneously sing infectious melodies and glide across every catwalk.

So, grab your finest attire, metalheads, and let’s break it down! BLEGH!

Track #1: “Hate Me”

The first track starts off strong: The clash of the drum symbols, the guitar riffs and the keyboard echo together like a soft, rhapsodic breath of fresh air. An electric guitar enters the bridge like a billowing thundercloud. All of these expert technicalities are joined together by Khristenko’s ethereal belting. And the lightning-speed rap during the bridge adds extra edge to the piece.

“Hate Me” is the perfect anti-hater anthem, combining vocal gracefulness with guitar-shredding gusto, the musical equivalent of a confident hero standing up to an opponent. A sparkling 10 out of 10.

Track #2: “Shadow of Life”

In this powerful second song, Khristenko harmonizes about the impact of legacies left behind after death. I’ll have to applaud the gritty, rhythmic electric guitar preceding the first and second verses, as well.

And we certainly can’t forget Mark Shi’s keyboard solo in the melody’s bridge. It sounds like the musical equivalent of a twinkling shooting star.

To say that ANA went all out with this beautiful number would be an understatement. It might also make us truly consider the legacies we want to leave behind.

Track #3: “Following the Wind”

Again, ANA surprises us with a strong beginning. In “Following the Wind,” Cody Lamb starts the track with a short but heavy bass solo. Then comes a confident talk-sing from Khristenko: “Listen up you motherfuckers / Let me talk to ya!”

When she tells us to listen up, she and her bandmates mean it with this song. The instrumentals are like air, and Khristenko’s vocal range is unyielding.

Impressed?

So are we! But wait until you hear the next piece!

Track #4: “You Loved Me More Than I Love Myself”

A fiery love melody both glorious and emotional, Track #4 also showcases the height of Khristenko’s vast singing abilities. One notably powerful line is: “You gave me your all / So now I will give to you all that I am.”

Josh Mak’s guitar solo at the bridge is as fiery as love can be. And the song finishes with Mark Shi’s glittering keyboard notes and Khristenko’s soft echo as the song fades into silence. Ten out of 10.

Track #5: “Eyes of A Child”

“Eyes of A Child” sounds as though it came straight out of a video game soundtrack, starting with Andres Felipe Martinez Osorio’s lightning-fast drum tempo in the first few seconds, followed by an excited violin and determined lyricism from Khristenko.

Track #6: “Sick Love”

“Sick Love” is a much softer number compared to the first five songs. With Khristenko’s emotional lyrics, this heartbreak harmony is like a sad lullaby, emphasizing what it’s like to rest with the grief of a love that was never real.

But the melody surprises us when it circles back to the album’s overall intensity after the bridge, as though the grief and pain have crystallized into strength and a burning desire to move forward.

Track #7: “Papa”

ANA’s symphonic metal muscles are pushed to full capacity in “Papa.”

And we thought “Following the Wind” and “You Loved Me” were the height of Khristenko’s vocal range in this record! If you want a beyond-textbook example of a symphonic metal song, listen to this one immediately. Ten out of merciless 10!

Track #8: “Aerials”

System of A Down, you have some fashionable visitors!

In Motivated By Death, ANA waves the theatrical wand over one of SOAD’s most prolific titles, “Aerials.”

It’s easy to pick at covers with a sharp pair of tweezers when comparing them to their original source, especially in the metal space. But ANA’s cover proves to be a masterful love letter to SOAD’s “Aerials,” maintaining the original song’s vulnerability while staying true to their mighty, ethereal flavor.

A job well done. And an elegantly dressed, commanding band worth tuning in for.

Conclusion

I’ve heard plenty of fantastic symphonic metal bands in my five-plus years of being a metalhead (Kamelot, Within Temptation and several more).

So, my mind exploded with ANA’s record. Mak, Lamb, Shi and Osorio’s instrumental talents are so monumental that, once the moshpit starts, metalheads would be too amazed by the music to even move their feet. And Khristenko’s vocal range is so high that it could send a tornado into the heavens and explode into a million stars.

Okay, I’m fangirling here, I apologize. But the point stands: Give Motivated By Death a shot.

You’ll be in awe just by hearing the album’s first few seconds.

I’m Music Magazine Music Journalist Sydney James