r/GothicMetal

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After a couple of listens, I think this is Moonspell’s strongest album in a long time. It’s not the heaviest thing they’ve ever done, but it absolutely nails the atmosphere. The keyboards are the MVP of the album and Ricardo’s guitar work is phenomenal throughout. Fernando's vocals are more diverse than any prior album, and he picks his battles very wisely. Just my first impressions track by track:

1. Cross Your Heart: Probably my least favorite. Catchy, almost poppy riff. I can see gothic rock fans loving it, but it didn’t have the emotional depth the rest of the album has.

2. Far From God: That intro is incredible. I was expecting it to go somewhere much darker, but it took a different route. Great lyrics and one of the best bass performances on the album.

3. Biblical: Love at first listen. The slow build from that opening bass line into the final climax is so satisfying. Reminded me of Lunar Still (Antidote), but I think they pulled it off even better here. The guitar solo will be a treat to watch live

4. The Great Wolf in the Sky: This is where I understood the whole “Irreligious for the 21st century” comparison. Haunting keyboards and great guitars. I just wish the lyrics hit as hard as the music.

5. Your Promise of Light: Hypnotizing atmosphere. Loved the oriental feel of the main riff and Fernando switching between whispers and growls depending on the lyrics.

6. For the Love of Mortals: Beautiful. Ricardo’s guitar melodies reminded me of Domina (Extinct) - not that the riffs are similar but that how good he is at crafting melodious, melancholic leads. Honestly feels like the closest Moonspell have ever come to writing a ballad, and it completely works.

7. Our Freedom to Fall: Ah, finally, the chuggy chug riffs. Heaviest song on the album. Fernando sounds absolutely massive here and I can already see this becoming a live staple.

8. Reconquista: Epic closer. Got serious Full Moon Madness (Irreligious) vibes from the opening. Best guitar solo on the album, and the “Under the Moon, Under the Spell” chant gave me goosebumps.

Overall, I love how confident this album sounds. The focus on atmosphere and emotion instead of heaviness sits really well with me.

Curious to hear everyone else’s thoughts!

I’m back again to discuss the next entry in the much beloved Theatre of Tragedy discography (and it wouldn't have taken me a full month this time, but then the subreddit was on lockdown). Today’s focus is the bands sixth studio album Storm, released on March 24, 2006 on AFM Records – this album recently celebrated a 20^(th) anniversary, and that makes me feel old – and was their first fully gothic metal album since 1998’s Aégis (sort of, you can read about that album here).

Good things rarely happen when bands and artists return to a style or genre that they were once known for after (almost) a decade of drifting into other sounds. Usually there is an inability to keep up with the trends that emerged in their absence, after all gothic metal in the late-90s is not the same thing as gothic metal in the mid-2000s. It was a post-Evanescence world, and female-fronted gothic metal skewed commercial and radio friendly, but Theatre of Tragedy perfectly used their experience writing streamlined pop songs to retrofit their late-90s sound for a 2006 audience.

Storm is high energy and band driven. The guitar work is nothing super technical, mostly being made of simple stop and go riffs and easy melodic leads, but there’s some chunky groove sections, guitar screeching, and goth scything to add abrasiveness and flesh out the atmosphere. When bass and drums take lead with big buoyant rock rhythms, the material feels at home with the Finnish style of gothic metal made big by HIM and their knock offs like To/Die/For and Entwine. The keyboards and piano lines are beautifully romantic and lush, and call back to the big atmosphere on Aégis, but here everything has to be streamlined to match the songwriting style of the mid-2000s.

Storm is the first album released after Liv Kristine’s dismissal from the band in August 2003, instead lead female vocals are provided by Nell Sigland of Norwegian gothic metal/goth rock band The Crest. In some ways, Sigland is a very apt replacement for Kristine, her timbre is not dissimilar to what Kristine was putting down for ToT’s electropop era, albeit with a rockier edge. However, her voice is a little more two-dimensional. Don’t get me wrong, I like her performance on this album, and I love The Crest, but she doesn’t offer much variety in her performance. Fortunately Raymond Rohonyi's talk singing doesn’t bother me so much here since there isn’t a need to add all these dated robotic effects on it. The performance is still a little cheezy, but in a way that I fuck with… I guess. Unfortunatley, there aren’t any harsh vocals to be found, some growls would have added a much welcome aggression. Ultimately, Rohonyi plays second fiddle to Sigland, and when she takes lead on some songs it almost sounds like a third The Crest album that never came to fruition.

I think Storm is a really strong culmination of Theatre of Tragedy’s career up until this point. They managed to bridge a lot of the 90s gothic metal tropes with modern production and pop songwriting, and the quality of the final product is quite high. It’s impressive how ToT have managed to come back to a genre they helped develop and keep up with the changing times.

Best songs: “Silence”, “Ashes and Dreams”, “Voices”, “Exile”

Worst songs: “Begin and End”, “Disintegration”

I’d give Storm like a 8.5 out of 10 rating, I liked it a lot, and it felt like such a breath of fresh air, especially after Assembly (which I still liked, but you know…). Mycurrent album ranking look like this:

1. Aégis (1998)
2. Storm (2006)
3. A Rose for the Dead (1997)
4. Theatre of Tragedy (1995)
5. Musique (2000)
6. Velvet Darkness They Fear (1996)
7. Assembly (2002)