Label : Napalm Records
Review by Tony Cannella
The Norwegian Gothic metal veterans Tristania returns with “Darkest White”, their seventh album and first since 2010’s “Rubicon”. “Darkest White” is also the second album to feature vocalist Mariangela Demurtas as she continues to fit in quite nicely and her further comfortability shows quite well throughout the 10-song, 48-minute playing time provided here.
The bombastic riffing leads us into the frenzied pacing of the opening track, “Number”. The main vocals on this track are from Anders Hoyvik Hidle who provides the brutal vocals as Mariangela joins in with her excellent vocals. Lead vocalist Kjetil Nordhus is also present throughout the CD and does a good job in providing clean male vocals. The straight-forward classic metal riffing of the title song is next and this song has an enormous impact thanks to its melody combined with black metal like aggressiveness. This is one of the highlights for me. “Himmelfall” is next and opens with another heavy riff (in fact there are riffs-a-plenty to be had all over “Darkest White”) before it settles into a steady groove which showcases the immense talents of drummer Tarald Lie. The Gothic style male vocals lead off this track as Mariangela joins in to provide some dramatic style vocals. On the next track “Requiem”, Mariangela is given her chance to shine on this melodic mid-tempo tune. Other highlights include: “Diagnosis”, “Scarling” and “Night on Earth”.
Over the years, Tristania has injected a lot of melody into their songs and they continue to combine dark music with more up-tempo numbers and infectious melodies. With “The Darkest White”, Tristania may have released their most accessible album yet, while still staying true to what their fans love about them. That can be a difficult line to straddle, but Tristania does it effortlessly.
Rating – 85/100
Tracklist
- Number
- Darkest White
- Himmelfall
- Requiem
- Diagnosis
- Scarling
- Night On Earth
- Lavender
- Cypher
- Arteries
Line Up
- Mariangela Demurtas – Vocals
- Kjetil Nordhus – Vocals
- Anders Høyvik Hidle – Guitars & Vocals
- Gyri Losnegaard – Guitars
- Ole Vistnes Bass and Backing Vocals
- Einar Moen- Keyboards
- Tarald Lie- Drums