Floor Jansen - "Paragon"
Yet another Symphonic Metal diva with a stellar solo Pop/Rock outing.
What a brilliant surprise this album was. A solo Floor Jansen album is not something I would have come up with for my 2023 wishlist off the top of my head. But the moment I saw it on the list of upcoming releases, I got excited.
Why?
Floor Jansen is a powerful vocalist. She’s been in Symphonic Metal since starting her career at 16. She is classically trained and excels at both clean and operatic vocals. She’s got a phenomenal range and is incredibly flexible. She spent the first ten years of her career with After Forever, a Symphonic band of decent repute, before jumping over to ReVamp for five years. I’m not intimately familiar with either, but I know of the former. But then she gets tapped to join Nightwish. THE Symphonic Metal band. She’s been with them for two albums now (since 2012; NIghtwish’s last two albums were released 2015 & 2020), and has absolutely excelled in her performances. I LOVED Annette’s vocals with Nightwish, but I’m not mad at the transition to Floor.
And, like all Metal musicians who cross genre lines for other projects, Floor brings a searing intensity to her performance on this album of rock-infused pop, with dalliances into disco and folk, and with the occasional electronic touch. Several tracks, including opener/title track “Paragon”, “Come Full Circle”, “Storm”, “Armoured Wings”, and closer “Fire”, rank among the best songs I’ve heard this year in melody, instrumentation, and vocal performance.
I keep trying to tell myself that it isn’t as good as my lingering opinion from my last listen says. But then I listen again and it just fires on all cylinders.
And, as a cohesive album, the connection is loose, but present, as each of the tracks represents some ideal or element that reflect back upon the concept of a “Paragon”. I need a few more listens to really nail it down. But I love it.
If you’re looking for a solid Pop album or rock with poppier vocals or a strong female vocalist or just something new to try…try this one.
Rating: Blue