Carl Begai

By Carl Begai

Vocalist Amanda Somerville has endured a healthy amount of good-natured ribbing over the years from certain press people for her claims of not being a metalhead. Her catalogue of projects, guest appearances and live shows dating back to 2001 screams proof to the contrary, an impressive body of work that gives her more credibility in metal circles than she ever bargained for. Even so, her first love is composing music for the moment that takes her. Rock, pop, new age, blues, ambient goth, the occasional silly commercial jingle, Somerville is capable of pulling off any style of music and doing it supremely well.

Her new album, Windows, is a showcase of her unique style(s), and sign that the world at large is starting to clue in to Somerville’s artist presence was the unexpected appearance of the album on a promo-sheet circulated by German metal promotional company CMM. Sandwiched between news of releases from Heaven & Hell (otherwise known as Black Sabbath featuring Ronnie James Dio) and doom veterans Trouble was Somerville’s name. This followed the original independent release of Windows by a few months, hinting that big things were the works. Not that the album was anywhere close to tanking without CMM’s helping hand.
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