Search - Tristania :: Ashes (Spec)

"The Song Of Demons Plays On The Wind"

Brian E. Erland | Brea, CA - USA | 03/07/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The interplay of opposites is a constant in life; day and night, darkness and light, male and female, good and bad. The same holds true for Tristania's 'Ashes' [Enhanced] [Special Edition].



To concentrate on the good I have two words, Vibeke Stene. When she is singing the lyrics and music take the listener on a hypnotizing and sometimes frightening trek into a Netherworld where "the Song of Demons" is clearly discerned. When she is not singing the music slips backward into a somewhat mediocre collection of tunes. Don't get me wrong, they're not bad songs, they just don't carry the same emotional impact when Vibeke isn't singing.



Receipt for Success: Keep Vibeke at the microphone as much as possible."

Tristania Drops Beauty, Mr D Drops Tristania

Mr D. | Cave Creek, Az United States | 04/19/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"When Morton Veland, the founder and creative genius behind Norwegian B&B band Tristania left to form Sirenia, most pundits thought that signaled a death knell for Tristania. However I thought, yes, but they still have Vibeke Stene. Stene has an hauntingly, alluring, pure voice that is intoxicating to listen to and sure enough, their release of World of Glass on the retreating footfalls of Veland seemed to bare that out. World of Glass was a strong album with Vibeke prominently featured.



In the meantime Veland was rolling along with two and a half (one was an EP) wonderful new albums but he still didn't have Vibeke.



So what did Tristania do on their new album Ashes? They witheld their greatest asset, relegating her to few lead vocals and mostly background vocals. Blaaaah! You guys blew it. Tristania is now more Death Metal than Beauty and the Beast. Death Metal fans may and probably will enjoy this album but I didn't think of them in that light or I wouldn't have wrote about them.



If they're going to so under-utilize Vibeke, they may as well send her packing over to Sirenia so she can reunite with Veland and make their music even better.



Band Members



Vibeke Stenne Vocals

Osten Bergoy Vocals

Kjetil Ingebrethsen Vocals

Kenneth Olsson Drums

Einar Moen Synth and Programming

Rune Osterus Bass

Anders Hoyvik Hidle Guitars



For those not familiar with Tristania, Ashes is their fourth full length album. It was preceded by Widows Weeds (1998), Beyond The Veil (1999) and World of Glass (2001). I would describe their music as Dark, Romantic, Symphonic Gothic, sometimes referred to as Beauty and the Beast music, in reference to the use of "growling" male vocals to offset the sweet, smooth, melodic sound of the female vocals, choirs and symphonic music. This style of music commands more popularity in other parts of the world than stateside, though adherents can be found everywhere. I don't know why they did it (Maybe they had budget concerns concerns with the new label) but they have abandoned some of the main tenets, that the previous three successful albums were built upon, by drifting into an even darker more atmospheric, less symphonic sound. There is very little of the previous sound but I did think three of the eight songs were better than average.



I enjoyed "Equalibrium", "Cure" and "Endogenisis" the best, probably because they were the most similar to the style that I was familiar with. "Equalibrium" starts pleasantly in a medium tempo with Vibeke taking on vocal duties. She is joined shortly by Osten Bergoy who on this number sings with clean vocals. There is nothing special about the music but it is consistent and enhances the pretty vocals. Others may disagree but I think "Cure" is very good. It has an slower atmospheric sad texture and also features Vibeke singing solo. Again the music is not particularly compelling but the overall effect of the song is, especially the wonderful piano playing in the middle backing Vibeke's heavenly voice. At 7:37 "Endogenisis" is the longest of all the songs, which are all fairly long. It starts out with some heavy growling but evolves quickly into a pretty ballad style, ethereal number, featuring clean vocals by Vibeke and Osten with an occasional growl.



Conclusion



Not only did Tristania diminish Vibeke's role in favor of dueling snarling voxes but they got rid of the other factors of beauty like the choirs and violins. What a disappointment! After a four year wait and eagerly anticipating their next release to get this. Now I know how some feel about the new NIN release.



Surprisingly many reviewers think Ashes is a good album, which proves my point that those who enjoy Death Metal would probably think it's great, while those that don't won't. On the other hand there are those who agree with me too. While I don't necessarily agree with everything they go on to say, I do agree that this is not a good album overall. Final Rating 2.75 stars, rounded up."