Maledia – “Your Angels Cry” EP (2012)

Label : Ravenheart Records

Review by Tony Cannella

From Rome, Italy the Gothic metal band Maledia released their debut album “She and Her Darkness” in 2009. It was quite impressive for a debut and now finally three years later they follow that up with a 7-song 38-minute EP “Your Angels Cry”.

At 38-minutes it is obviously longer than your average EP but not long enough to be considered a full-length. “Your Angels Cry” is a heavier album than their debut and a bit darker, and injects their Gothic sound with a bit of a Black Metal influence. This is never more evident than on “Obscura” which sees one of the more bizarre vocal duets of the year, with female vocalist Luana Imperatore teaming up with the Italian Black Metal growler Agonia Blackvomit. Continue reading »

Lightless Moor – “The Poem – Crying My Grief to A Feeble Dawn” (2013)

Label: Dreamcell 11/Wormholedeath/Aural Music

Review by Tony Cannella

From Italy, the Gothic Doom Metal band Lightless Moor formed in 2001. After their initial EP “Renewal” was released in 2006, they recently signed to the up-and-coming label WormHoleDeath and it is through that label that they have released their long awaited epic debut, “The Poem – Crying My Grief to a Feeble Dawn”. With a name like Lightless Moor and judging by some of the song titles, it is easy to see that lyrically they explore the darker side of life and the music provides the perfect soundtrack.

The ominously eerie intro segues into the heavy doom-laden opening track “The Lyrics of the Journey”. Lightless Moor utilizes two lead vocalists. 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 »

Shiori Vitus – Eleanor

Interview by Alessandra Cognetta

Here we are for another feature from overseas in our series of interviews with female-fronted Japanese bands. This time we move from Tokyo to the south of the country, specifically Osaka. Shiori is the lead singer of Eleanor, a gothic/melancholic metal band that will surely remind you of the Dutch act The Gathering. But there’s much more than that in their music and we had Shiori as our guide to get to know more about Eleanor and their latest release, “Breathe Life Into The Essence”, with in-depth analysis of the songs, the emotions the cultural influences and the people behind the music. You only have to scroll down and read!

Hello. I’m the singer of Eleanor, Shiori. Thank you for the opportunity, and I would like to express my feelings of honor at being interviewed. As for the new album, we have been introduced by magazine reviews, radio programs etc., and through various sources of media we have been receiving favorable receptions from not only our fans, but also listeners who have never heard of us before, and I feel very happy about this. It could be due to the fact that before the release we posted free test plays from the album, and made the PV accessible, so that as many people as possible would have the chance to know a little bit about us.

The making of the second album began from the act of first putting a stop to the currentof our activities, and taking a second look into ourselves. The songs on the second album I think have increased in scale, compared to before. We do call ourselves a melancholic gothic metal band, but many songs take a widely altered course from what would be expected from the gothic metal genre. If we had not stopped the flow after the release of the first, we most possibly might have ended up making an album on the same track as before. Continue reading »

As Angels Bleed – “As Angels Bleed” (2013)

Independent Release

Review by Tony Cannella

From Australia, As Angels Bleed plays beautifully vampiric gothic metal with a romantic edge. Their self-titled debut is out now and for fans who love their metal a little on the dark side, then I would highly recommend As Angels Bleed. The ominous intro leads off the first song “Sinfully Yours”. Lead vocalist Avelina De Moray has a vocal style that stands out from a lot of female vocalists, with a sound that is mournful and she forgoes the operatic route. “Let me show you what death tastes like” is the opening (spoken) lyric to the next song “Desire”. Some crunchy stop/start guitar riffing dominates the song, but what can’t be understated enough is the bands use of melody. Continue reading »