Sinisthra - Last of the Stories of Long Past Glories

BACK IN TIME:

#PER CHI AMA: Gothic, Charon, Him

Dalla terra dei vari Him, The 69 Eyes, Entwine e Charon (...e chi più ne ha più ne metta), arrivò nel 2005 un’altra band di gothic metal. Dalla gelida Helsinki ecco approdare sul mercato discografico i Sinisthra, conosciuti fino a pochi mesi prima con il monicker Nevergreen. 'Last of the Stories of Long Past Glories' è stato il loro disco di debutto, dove peraltro sondare all'epoca le doti canore del nuovo singer degli Amorphis, Tomi Joutsen, passato nelle file della band di Tomi Koivusaari, dopo la dipartita di Pasi Koskinen (che a sua volta era passato nelle file degli Ajattara). Ma parliamo di musica ora: il disco è un esempio di classico gothic metal, ispirato alle band sopraccitate, ma anche dai lavori più “pop” dei Pyogenesis, degli album degli Amorphis di quell'epoca e addirittura, in qualche passaggio, ho potuto scorgere l’ombra dei Red Hot Chili Peppers (quelli più intimistici però). I 40 minuti di questo lavoro ci offrono un po’ tutti i clichè del genere: malinconiche melodie sostenute dalle soffuse tastiere di T. Vainio, squarciate da momenti più aggressivi e dagli assoli dei due chitarristi. E poi la voce di T. Joutsen, che dire? Il fatto che passò a cantare sul prossimo disco di una delle mie band preferite di sempre, un po’ mi fece venire i brividi, ma poi ci ho fatto l’abitudine. La sua voce era infatti nasale, dotata di una buona estensione vocale, ma poco carismatica; sprigionava poca energia con l’album che scivola stancamente senza mai troppo coinvolgere l'ascoltatore. Cosa volete che vi dica, le premesse non sono state le migliori e se la band ci ha impiegato 15 anni per produrre un nuovo lavoro ('The Broad and Beaten Way') e ristampare questo per la Rockshots Records con un paio di demo tracks e unreleased tracks, un perchè deve esserci. Io da buon sentimentale, rimpiango ancora i tempi in cui il buon vecchio Tomi Koivusaari gorgheggiava su 'Tales From the Thousand Lakes', quindi fate voi. Per quanto riguarda le liriche trattano temi più che altro intimi e personali. Insomma all'epoca trovai questi Sinisthra abbastanza spenti e poco convincenti, ora sarei davvero curioso di ascoltare il nuovo album. (Francesco Scarci)

(Arise Records/Rockshots Records - 2005/2020)
Voto: 58

https://www.facebook.com/Sinisthra/

Majesty of Silence - Zu Dunkel Für Das Licht

#FOR FANS OF: Black/Gothic

Majesty of Silence is back with a brand new album entitled 'Zu Dunkel Für Das Licht'. The band is by no means a rookie as it was founded 22 years ago in Aarau, Switzerland. During the early years, they released three albums at a reasonable rate, but afterwards the band remained inactive during a long time. And, when many years pass, it is taken for granted that there won´t be any comeback, fortunately it wasn´t the case and Majesty of Silence was re-activated in 2016. It seems that the band was reinvigorated because it hasn´t taken too much time for the current two members to release a new album. It has to be mentioned that the band´s first line-up consisted of three members. Around 2005, an additional member joined the band, but nowadays Majesty of Silence continues as a duo with two of the founders, Peter Mahler and Christian Geissmann. 

 

Musically speaking, Majesty of Silence plays an interesting blend of black metal and gothic metal where the classic raspy vocals are dominant and the tempo is clearly faster and much more aggressive than we usually see with classic gothic metal bands. As it can be expected, the band adds some interesting keys which also have a mixed influence, at times they sound more black metal-esque and in other cases, they have a pure gothic metal touch. From time to time some female vocals appear, and they are a good contrast to the heavier and darker side of this band. During the first years the band used to sing in English but it was a matter of time that the band introduced the German language in their lyrics, which, in my opinion, makes the band sound even darker. German is indeed a powerful language and it sounds great when an extreme band uses it. 

 

'Zu Dunkel Für Das Licht' is, like its predecessors, a quite long album, as it has 14 songs and it lasts more than 70 minutes. Personally, I don´t like such long albums because they can become quite boring. Moreover, it is indeed difficult to keep a great quality when the release is so long. Fortunately, it seems that these guys have worked hard on this album and it’s clear that the band has tried to compose a varied yet powerful album. The balance between the black metal and gothic influences is a trademark characteristic of the new album. As for the production, the album has a powerful sound and both guitars and drums sound strong and convincing. Songs like the album opener “Der Untergang” or “Endstille” have very fast sections, tough like it happens with the rest of the album the pace is quite varied. Other tracks like “Dem Engel Noch Zuhören” have a greater gothic touch with very nice keys, which are simple but catchy and give a great atmospheric touch to this and other similar songs. I personally love how this track ends with that hypnotic key and a beautiful female voice in the background. The atmospheric intros are another winning formula used in several songs, those dark and calm intros are suddendly broken by the guitars and drums which enter furiously, Majesty of Silence surely knows how to make great debut for the songs, and “Zweiundzwanzig” is a good example of this use and one of the heaviest songs of the album. The female vocals are another satisfying addition that transpires in several tracks like the aforementioned one and “Sonne”, for example. 

 

In conclusion, Majesty of Silence has made a great comeback with an undoubtedly powerful and dynamic album. 'Zu Dunkel Für Das Licht' is a long work that brings us all the ingredients you can expect from a black-gothic metal band. Furious vocals occasionally accompanied by female vocals, powerful and dynamic guitars, catchy and enthralling keys and powerful drums. This album may be too dark for the light but not for our ears. Come to the Swiss darkness and enjoy! (Alain González Artola)

(Rockshots Records - 2018)
Score: 85

https://www.facebook.com/Mosmetalband/

Ivory - Southern Cross

#FOR FANS OF: Symphonic Metal, Stratovarius

Without wanting to sound too much like an sociologist, Ivory's 'Southern Cross' just wouldn't happen in Australia, I reckon. I just feel like we have a lower tolerance of cheese down here in the antipodes- or perhaps we tolerate a different kind of cheese? Anyway, it's easy to come away from this album thinking "thank god heavy metal is not a mainstream pursuit here"; it's just a shiny, overwrought nothing of a thing.

Instrumentally it's not terrible. It plods like a sauropod on valium, but you can tell there's a few parts where at least they tried. It's not a new sound or anything- Stratovarius with some occasional Dream Theatre-lite moments and maybe some Metallica meets My Little Pony when the band wants to get heavy. The keys and guitars are saccharine sweet but they play a lot of busy parts- the occasional neat bit of interplay here, a lot of cool little runs and solos all over the place. The overall impression is that while it's dripping with mature cheddar, the musicians weren't content with just being a backing track for a vocalist to wail over.

It's the vocals are the main problem. With a charismatic, powerful vocalist this would probably still be the most artificial thing since diet coke, but it would at least have a chance at being entertaining. As it stands though it's pretty gross. Devoid of power, writing not a single memorable vocal, atrocious lyrics (all of which are easily audible, just to increase the cringe), forever sounding like he's at the absolute end of his range, and possessing a very strong, very cringy accent, there is absolutely nothing going here for the poor guy. He clearly tries, but that doesn't matter- he sounds awful, he's loudly mixed and he's everywhere.

It's not a horrible album or anything, but I certainly don't like it that much and I can't see it getting any play after this review. If you can get past the vocals you've got a fairly okay, symphonic, vaguely proggy power metal album. I couldn't get past the vocals. There's far better albums in this vein- don't bother looking here. (Caspian Yurisich)

(Rockshots - 2016)
Score: 45

https://ivory-minsk.bandcamp.com/track/vanitas-vanitatum