THEATRE OF TRAGEDY

They say you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover, and in this case it’s definitely true. The cover is a deep red montage of roses, material and fire… but this album is far from fiery. Not that there’s anything wrong with this, the album is simply a much colder effort and whilst it’s passionate it’s definitely not fiery. The “cold” bits I’m referring to are the quiet parts and these really are a treat. The melody and overall sound during these quieter sections is relaxing and spooky where every instrument brings something helpful to the mix… except (in most cases) the guitars. Whilst occasionally bringing in an interesting solo the riffs in this album are nothing more than a sort of blurry background noise with no definition and personally kills the mood. The only song where I’d say they really worked is ‘Illusions’ with an interesting riff kicking in towards the end of the track. The completely quiet song ‘Revolution’ is where the band really break into their stride, where they don’t feel the need to do the tedious loud chorus, quiet verse song structure that so many gothic bands fall prey to, and where Nell Sigland’s beautiful vocals can really be let loose on a song. I personally think the band would sound better if they dropped the Metal idea and simply focused on making calm operatic music. Sigland’s vocals, whilst brilliant, don’t exactly fit the heavier parts but to contrast this they do have a male singer in the form of Raymond István Rohonyi who only pops up occasionally. Rohonyi’s contribution will be very much down to personal taste in some songs, and especially in opening track ‘Hide and Seek’ I find it hard to take him serious as he performs with a silly sounding metal growl… however in others he’ll sing far clearer but with an admirable roughness to his voice. The efforts by the keyboardist and the drummer fit in very nicely with the overall sound, often snatching the limelight away from Sigland’s performance, whilst filling out the record with ambience and power. This is a nice sounding album but has no real crescendos or engaging pace which could leave the listener knowing they quite like it but, at the same time, finding it tiresome.

LABEL:

FORMAT:

AFM Records

Album

FOREVER IS THE WORLD

Review by Nicholas Dishington

RUNNING TIME:

49:00

RELEASE DATE:

21st Sept 2009

TRACK LISTING

1) Hide and Seek
2) A Nine Days Wonder
3) Revolution
4) Transition
5) Hollow
6) Astray
7) Frozen
8) Illusions
9) Deadland
10) Forever is the World

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

Norway

"This is a nice sounding album but has no real crescendos or engaging pace which could leave the listener knowing they quite like it but, at the same time, finding it tiresome."