The 18th of April marks the release of A War of Our Own, the new album from Dutch metal band Stream of Passion. The title was inspired by the unusual path the band had to take in order to make this album a reality; they initiated an international crowd funding campaign through the Indiegogo platform. Within a few short weeks, the Stream of Passion fans managed to raise the staggering amount of € 44.000 by bidding on band-related goodies and events. The French artist Alexandra Bach contributed generously to the campaign by offering to create the stunning artwork.

The fourth album by Stream of Passion brings closure to a period in which the band was forced to fight for their existence after they’d ended their deal with their record company. As leader of the pack Marcela Bovio explains: “The relationship between us and the record company was far from ideal and we were forced to re-examine all our options. Such an impasse had a strong influence on our state of mind. Thankfully, the idea of crowd funding surfaced and quickly changed everything for the better.” Bovio says further: “It was a beautiful thing, seeing so many people offering their support. Our fans clearly wanted to help us secure our future; they have had a major role in making this album possible. Thanks to our fans, we’ve emerged stronger from this battle.”

Confronting Conflict
Conflict is a recurring theme on A War of Our Own. The intimate song ‘Secrets’ was inspired by the struggle of 3 year old Mara, who sadly passed away last year after a long battle with Neuroblastoma (a rare and very aggressive form of child-cancer). ‘Don’t Let Go’ is a message of hope to someone who can’t cope with life anymore; and ‘Exile’ involves the internal and emotional struggles faced by an asylum-seeker forced to leave his country behind.

Complete Freedom
By being more ambitious than ever, the band has perfected their sound musically. A War of Our Own is more progressive and melodic than the previous albums. The album also contains more symphonic elements and of course the trademark Latin-American passion associated with Stream of Passion. The album was once again produced by Joost van den Broek and contains, alongside their own songs, material written with Daniel Cardoso – keyboardist of the popular progressive rock-band Anathema.

However cliché it may sound, Stream of Passion has made major progress, despite (or possibly thanks to) the challenges they recently faced. In hindsight, it seems that parting ways with the record company was a blessing in disguise. Bovio: “It enabled us to make decisions on our own time. There were no more discussions about the direction our music was taking or about the visual aspects. We had complete freedom. We are no longer accountable to anyone; it’s now up to the fans to judge our work and the album.”