Despairation – A Requim In Winter's Hue

Releasedate: 07-03-2008; Label: My Kingdom Music
By: Sabine van Gameren

Ten years after their first full length album, the German band Despairation releases their fifth album “A Requim In Winter’s Hue”.
The band has been formed in 1994 by guitar player Martin F. Jungkunz. During the years they built up their name and got response from the gothic scene. Though their music of their last album might be described more as melancholic doom rock.

“A Requim In Winter’s Hue” contains 11 songs, which are all quite slow, dark and depressive. The songs on this album are all formed around the word “farewell”.
Though, you should not take this all as being a negative farewell. There are also positive vibes hearable. For example when you listen to the fifth song on the album called “Farewell in Blue”, Singer Sacha Black sings: “Even sadness goes away, precious memories are left behind”. Interpretation of songs might always be in debate, but for those who need the strength and are open minded, will definitely find some hope in the calm tunes of Despairation.
To give the music a little more drama Despairation added a cello for some of the songs. For example in the song “Humanity of a Child” the cello is implemented very nice into their music and it turned out to be one of my favorite songs of the album.

Despairation showed with this album why they deserved their place in the music scene and for me this album will not disappear in a dark corner of my cd collection, but stays on top of it for a while.

Line Up:
Sascha Blach (vocals)
Martin F. Jungkunz (gui, prog)
Christian Beyer (piano, synths)
Jens Reinhold (drums)

Guest performances:
Victoria Trunova (vocals)
Judith Meyer (cello)

1. Kiss Of Ashes 2. A Lovelorn Requiem 3. The One Who Ceased To Breathe 4. Musique De La Decadence 5. Farewell In Blue 6. The Shallow Sea 7. Letters From A Coffin 8. Catharthiv Sublimination 9. Humanity As A Child 10. Lucid Lullaby 11. Inner Peace

Links:
Despairation MySpace
Despairation Official