If you asked most fans of modern music what similarities classical and hard rock have, they’d probably have a hard time giving you an answer. Not if you were a fan of Joan Avant, though. With her latest offering, Dies Irae, Avant successfully illustrates just how harmonious the two genres are. Through ten brand new tracks, the classically trained singer and songwriter takes you through a magnificent mashup of haunting vocals, exquisite harmonies, and powerful guitars. Lyrically, the songs are very well coordinated with Avant offering intense stories of the underbelly of Victorian-era society, examining the dark, grim elements that lurked underneath the romanticism that the era is typically associated with. Dies Irae by Joan Avant With some thoughts on her new record, Avant states: “Dies I...