Review Summary: Forget everything you know about Tristania. The new Tristania (?) is here, unfortunately.
So, the transformation in the band is complete. First, Morten Veland, has been kicked out. After this, the band WAS alive and released very good albuns such as World of Glass, the more accoustic and mature Ashes and the almost-lacking Illumination.
Truth to be told, unfortunately, now forget everything you know about Tristania. Vibeke departed. A new vocalist "Mary" makes her debut on this album. Mary has a powerful voice, but I think it doesn't fits to Tristania style. However, there are some major issues on the album that sinks it.
So, we have here a "punk-pop-gothic-band". Mary brings some punk and pop influences to the sound of band. It's not a so bad thing. It gets worse when we have uninspired songwriters. And this is what we have here. The songs are generic, nothing memorable. If you listen the album once, it's almost impossible for you to remember anything.
But if you can't remember the songs, you certainly will remember the vocals. It's the most horrible exhibition of this album (it's not a surprise). It's even worse the way they are sung. You can often listen to the vocalists singing some chorus together and the result is horrible.
And what about Osten? Remind that man with a clean voice adding some darkness to the music? It's gone. Now we have a man singing some non-sense lyrics with some guitar annoying sound. And what about the riffs? Well, I just can listen to some guitar/bass sound to fulfill the annoying vocals. I'm not talking about riffs for sure, just some notes here and there. The drums are very flat, with no power or nothing else.
Oh, wait! Pete Johansen is back now and all the power of gothic metal is back too. No, this is a joke, a bad joke. Pete Johansen just appears some seconds on the album. It's a shame the band announcing the "return of gothic metal". The only good violin song is "Amnesia". It brings to my memory the old and excellent album Widow's Weeds. The only good songs in the album are Amnesia and Illumination.
So, the instrumental part isn't good. The vocals aren't good. The music overall isn't good. I just tried this album without prejudice and reached to this sad conclusion. Sad but true. There is nothing that justifies this album. Do not expect a masterpiece. If you want a real masterpiece, listen to Widow's Weeds or Beyond The Veil. I warned you.
