While shopping at your nearby dealer, you might find an album with a cover that
seems more or less familiar to you, but you don't remember having seen this band's
moniker anywhere else. Mysterium's cover reminds in fact alot
of Paradise Lost's Draconian Times. That may be why
it seemed so familiar. Anyway, that doesn't explain why I picked it up while looking
for recent releases. Of course I listened to it before buying it... I always thought
that with a great looking cover bands might sell more records. I am not saying
that Mysterium's cover is that great, but it's far better than
lots of other out there.
Let me tell you I don't regret having picked that one up. It's definitely a
very good release. Not yet a masterpiece, but the band is heading for releasing
a masterpiece if they continue to evolve like that. I have not listened thoroughly
to their first album Glowering Facades Of The Night, but I have had
a couple of listens to some of their previous tracks. The progression is quite
amazing, and you really feel like this is another band. Music wise, the band
blends a lot of different influences such as Paradise Lost,
My Dying Bride, Moonspell, or even Opeth and early Evereve and Katatonia. I have noticed
some likeness with Ashes To Ashes' Cardinal VII and
Divercia's Modus Operandi which if you remember,
were both considered as two of last year's highlights. I am not saying the band is or
has been influenced by those bands, but this is my opinion. Everyone knows that
everyone perceives music with different ears.
Mysterium shows some great musical qualities on their sophomore
album. They've crafted a bunch of long, interesting pieces of music that are worth
listening to alot because they are not repetitive and not boring at all. Some
of the doom metal bands tend to repeat themselves and their music tends to become
boring after some listens. The album starts off with the instrumental track
Ambivalentika which I consider as a filler and the weakest song of
the Soulwards. Things become deadly serious with the second track Within
Tempted Moon. This is quite an energic song that gathers lots of different
influences with fast or ambient passages, clean vocals and some great harsh
vocals. Clean male vocals and female vocals are what makes the little
difference, but here there's no doubt that those harsh vocals are what make
Mysterium's second album so pleasant to listen to. Track three
Sirrah is a little more slow paced but remains a very interesting song
with some rythm changes and those harsh vocals. Tracks between 5 and 8 minutes
unfold one by one until you reach the end of the album and you crave for more.
As described on their label home page, Mysterium present themselves
with a modern and totally hard wall of sound. Indeed, a great wall of sound it is.
However the band proposes a couple of weak tracks The Se Mirroed 1s
and Spiral Mystery which are two slow paced songs that unfortunately
denote with the rest of the album and thus weakened a little bit the overal
quality of the album although they bring some diversity.
My conclusion is that this band is ready to become a name in the music scene
such as Paradise Lost and The Gathering did
it some years ago. Unfortunately, with the overwhelming quantities of good or
band productions these days, their current album or their future albums might
go unnoticed to the ears of some of you. Believe me, that's a great record and
worth investing your money on.