Conflict of Interest

Darkwell is Gothic Metal band from Austria formed in early 1999. The current line up currently consists of Alexandra Pittracher on vocals, Raphael Leposchitz on keyboards, Mathias Nussbaum on guitars, Roland Wurzer on bass and Moritz Neuner on drums. Their first CD "Suspiria" was released in September 2000 on Napalm Records. As opposed to the classic Gothic-Metal stylistics, Darkwell doesn't include male grunts, but does use clear male vocals in support with the dominant angelic voice of Alexandra. The music is hypnotic; slow to mid paced in tempo with various time changes. It consists of heavy metal style riffing that is associated with doom metal and erie keyboards like that used in black metal. "Conflict of Interest" is a MCD (multimedia CD) that consists of four brand new tracks, one cover track and two live tracks from "Suspiria". The MCD portion includes CD-ROM bonus material such as two live videos, general information and goodies (desktop backgrounds, etc.). I first learned about Darkwell by simply seeing an advertisement for their first album "Suspira" in a Relapse Records catalog. The description about the band and the album was enough to generate some interest in this style of music for me. I sampled some audio tracks through one of the major on line CD stores and was hooked. My one complaint about this release is that Darkwell has released one full length album of all new material since 2000. They have only scratched the surface of the Gothic Metal realm and really need to establish themselves more fully. Hence they should have released another full length CD instead of this MCD. I hope they plan to release another album of new material very soon. Overall, the four new studio tracks, including the cover song, are excellent and continue in the same formula and style as their debut album, "Suspiria". The live tracks are flawless, though the guitars are a little low in the mix. "Conflict of Interest" is still worth adding to anyone's collection.