Tristania – Darkest White

Releasedate: 31-05-2013; Label: Napalm Records
By: Martine Goffard

The Norwegian gothic band Tristania is back with its seventh album, Darkest White. I hadn’t listened to Tristania for a long time. I had been highly seduced by their first gloomy albums Widow’s Weeds and Beyond The Veil, which will forever be among the best metal albums ever created, and as many fans, I had been deceived by their evolution in some progressive rock.

I have to admit that this new album is very pleasant. The opening song Number is a classic gothic one, with a heavy bass, the smooth female vocals of Mariangela Demurtas and the harsh male voice of guitarist Anders Høyvik Hidle. There is still a little rock-electro touch but we are clearly in the dark gothic metal, even if it will never be the old Tristania with its violins and Victorian atmosphere. The compositions are brilliant. Created like anthems, with emotionally loaded, slow tempo choruses, songs like Requiem and Diagnosis are highly addictive. The melancholy is beautiful, especially when expressed through the voice of the singer Kjetil Nordhus. The songs follow each other like waves crushing on the shore during a storm. It’s powerful, the guitars are aggressive and there is not a single flaw in the tempo. Mariangela proves that she was the perfect choice to replace the great Vibeke Stene. Her crystalline singing on Lavender gives goose bumps. This grandiloquent metal is just delicious. The band shows that she is always in a constant evolution. I will definitely listen to Tristania again from now on.

Line up:
Anders Høyvik Hidle – guitars / harsh vocals
Einar Moen – keyboard
Mariangela Demurtas – vocals
Gyri Losnegaard – guitars
Ole Vistnes – bass, backing vocals
Tarald Lie – drums
Kjetil Nordhus – vocals, acoustic guitars

Tracklist: 01. Number 02. Darkest White 03. Himmelfall 04. Requiem 05. Diagnosis 06. Scarling 07. Night On Earth 08. Lavender 09. Cypher 10. Arteries

Links:
Tristania Facebook