La-Ventura is a female-fronted Goth Metal troupe from The Netherlands who deliver solid slabs of piano-heavy hard rock not unlike Lacuna Coil. Tracks like “Remind You” resonate with pop-radio friendly rock symphonies while “Messed Up” take the Evanescence scorn route with heavy guitars a la Sevendust and keyboards leading the charge. Armed with strong vocals that do their best to support the durable yet predictable musical compositions on tracks like “A New Beginning,” this quintet follows the template but doesn’t demonstrate enough of its own stamp to consider this a must have album. www.renaisssancerecords.com -Mike SOS