By: Anders

Posted: Jul 16, 2005

This mini CD marks my first encounter with, and the debut release of this Norwegian band. 4 grandiose and well executed tracks of breathtaking gothic metal, which displays great song writing, good musicianship and an enchanting female vocal.

The first thing that comes to mind when listening to this CD is the catchiness, without the music losing the dark and mysterious atmosphere. The great orchestration that builds the atmosphere, and the enchanting vocals together with the great choirs that makes the atmosphere peak. The song writing is good, very clever. It builds up peaks and brings a lot of atmosphere into the music. The dark suiting guitars, the many quiet breaks, the good leads and percussion-like drum work. The music is mostly very quiet and is a perfect fundament for the vocals, which are like cream for the ears.

The music in itself isn't much to write about, it is more or less used as the bottom for the play, which you see before your eyes, when listening to "Dies Irae". It is very suiting for it to be kept as low at it is and letting the vocals and choirs take the picture. It creates a great atmosphere, in the vein of an opera. The use of keyboards is pretty good, they are used a lot. Though never in a cheesy way, it is a part of the atmosphere building up and gives quite some facets to the overall sound picture.

The most of the gothic metal and rock that has been released the latest years, have I found pretty boring to be honest. There have been a few bands that have been interesting, seldom new bands though. This has changed with Where Angels Fall, they have hit the right atmosphere and the right balance in their compositions. Great dark gothic metal, with a nice mysterious atmosphere, great vocal and great choirs. These 4 tracks have ignited my curiosity and I do look forward to the bands full length album, which will be released later this year. This is one of the bands we will hear a lot more of in the future.

Rating: 8/10

Print