Of Infinity- The Essence of Infinity

The Essence of Infinity, the new 3-song demo CD from San Antonio melodic metal band Of Infinity, is, in fact, not even close to what most musicians or reviewers would consider a demo. Rather, it's an immaculately produced 3-song EP from a band that's been around since '99. With impressive credentials (vocalist/pianist/keyboardist Alessandra Zinicola, in particular, has an impressive background in opera/symphony composition), the band blends extremely proficient musicianship with strong songwriting and excellent melodic instincts.

The disc's combination of orchestral elements, female vocals, and powerful metal may warrant comparisons to bands like Nightwish, although this is a decidedly different animal. While somewhat instrumentally complex and certainly well written, the band's work sometimes has more of an Evanescence-like simplicity and mainstream appeal. Zinicola's synth and piano parts are integral yet somewhat subdued and simplistic rather than dense and intrusive, often providing a melodic accent rather than forming the core of the band's sound. Her parts are well written and proficiently performed without flaunting her musical background through overly intricate and less accessible classical compositions. Guitarist Nazareth Sando's work ranges from excellent soaring melodic leads to clean arpeggios and mellow breaks to typical metal chord riffing. Bassist Kurtis Kyllo and drummer Carlos Teller round out the lineup and provide a strong anchor.

The moody opener "The Voice Without" features great music box-esque synth accents and alternates between heavy distorted riff-driven sections and lovely mellow interludes with cascading piano. "Shadow of a Lie" is a somewhat more aggressive and straightforward metal rocker with some excellent real violin thrown into the mix. "It's Only For Forever" is a simple but beautiful bluesy piano-heavy ballad with goth overtones and strong lead guitar soloing.

While, contrary to the sentiment of the majority of label scouts, it's a bit difficult to judge a band on a mere three songs, all three offered here are impressive. The members of Of Infinity certainly have the musicianship and songwriting skill to make a name for themselves in the metal scene and enough moodiness to appeal to the goth crowd, yet their sound may be accessible enough to even achieve some degree of mainstream success. If this is what they call a demo, we can either expect big things from them in the future or a career overshadowed by obsessive perfectionism.