Tristania – “Darkest White” (2013)

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. Continue reading »

Hanging Doll – “The Sacred & Profane” (2012)

Label : Rocksektor Records

Review by Tony Cannella

The U.K. based Gothic metal band Hanging Doll released their full-length debut, “Reason and Madness” in 2008 and have now returned with their sophomore outing entitled, “The Sacred & Profane”. The opener “Cradle to the Grave” is a strong and melodic way to kick things off. The clear female vocals supplied by Sally Holliday are supported by the rough male vocals of Daniel Leddy, add in some good guitar work and you have a potent opener. The next song, “Carnival of Sin” begins with a piano intro as the song kicks in and continues to present some strong material. “Dark Narcissus (The Forest)” opens with a heavy riff and an atmospheric melody. Other highlights include: “Lacrimosa”, “Immortal Beloved” and the epic closing trio of “Bound in Servitude”, “The Inauspicious Host” and the 8-minute “A Question of Faith”, which – in my opinion – is the best song and a classy and memorable way to end things. Continue reading »

Visions of Atlantis – “Ethera” (2013)

Label : Napalm Records

Review by Tony Cannella

It’s been a long road for the Austrian Symphonic power metal band Visions of Atlantis. They are true survivors of the genre. They’ve survived numerous line-up changes and yet still they remain as strong as ever. As a testament to VoA’s lasting endurance and strength the band have just released their 5th full-length album “Ethera”.

“The Ark” starts things off with male vocalist Mario Plank beginning the song before Maxi Nil joins in. This is pure Visions of Atlantis and an excellent way to begin things. This is now the second album to feature Maxi Nil (not including the EP “Maria Magdalena”) and she continues to be a great fit for this band. Continue reading »

Black Heaven – “Dystopia” (2011)

Label : Trisol Music Group GmbH

Review by Luisa Mercier

Black Heaven is the side project of mastermind Martin Schindler, which tried to complete the gothic rock played with Mantus through this electronic project. After the release of their last record in 2009, Black Heaven completed their fifth album and in no way they have lost the dark mood of the founder main band. “Das Tor Zu Welt”, the opener, is an up-tempo song full of keyboards and completely sung by Martin while the following “Lächelnd geht die Welt zugrunde” is haunting and the vocals are delivered by Thalia. More slow-paced, it will find its place in the gothic clubs all over Europe.

“Die Zeit Die Bleibt” is more gothic, decadent and romantic with strings and its piano break that seems coming out of a movie soundtrack. Going back to danceable rhytm, “Mensch” is maybe the fastest song on the album and once again the keyboards have a main role. Continue reading »

Clair de Lune – “Introduction to…” DEMO (2012)

Independent Release

Review by Davide Torresan

It’s always nice to discover new bands like this one. Clair De lune tries with this “Introduction to…” to make itself known outside of their country, El Salvador. After some changes in the line-up and in the band’s name, they reached a stable line-up. Their musical style is certainly not classic since they can boast the presence of a violinist, an opera singer and a growler in the group. From these 3 elements I was expecting a gothic metal band, but I was wrong. They do a particular type of symphonic metal with a touch of ordinary madness. I’d say that we are dealing with an avant-garde metal band.

“Introduction to …”, whose cover immediately reminded me the one of “Angels Fall First” by Nightwish, is a demo with only 4 songs that explain directly to the listener the abilities of Clair De Lune. Although the band name is clearly inspired by “Moonlight Sonata” of Beethoven, the atmospheres of this demo are not really calm. After a short orchestrated “Intro”, the very first song makes its appearance: “Soul Mirror”. Continue reading »