World Of Glass

Morten Veland was the heart and the soul of Tristania, and since I've heard of his departure from the band to found Sirenia (he got fired by the way), I was wondering how the band would sound now. With this new release, their third so far, I am half satisfied, and half disappointed… Half satisfied because Tristania still sounds as… Tristania. I was afraid that they would turn their sound into some kind of another electro-pop band such as Paradise Lost and Theatre of Tragedy, But nope, fortunately they are still playing their gothic-black-dark-metal (whatever you call it by the way), with the ethereal voice of Vibeke. She certainly has the most angelic voice of all the female singer among with Anita from The Sins of thy Beloved. Besides, the choirs on this album are just beyond imagination, the best I have heard until this day. The violin part of Pete Johansen are still part of the sound. Half disappointed, because as I said before Morten was the soul of Tristania, and now there are a few elements missing, such as his growling vocals that were so much better than those on this album (Ronny Thorsen from Trail of Tears). Disappointed because part of the splendor that Widows' Weed (by the way my number one album so far) and Beyond The Veil were made of are somewhat gone. But the choirs are maybe better than those featured on their sophomore album Beyond The Veil. The sound of course is as good as Beyond The Veil since the album as been recorded at Sound Suite Studios with Terje Refsnes The Shining Path, the first songs on the album, doesn't sound like any previous Tristania's song before. There are some Indus elements in it, which little scared me while listening to this first song. The voices on the back sound a little bit crushed, like overwhelmed by the all the instruments and by the voices of Vibeke. Wormwood starts with a choir of male vocals, followed by a combined choirs of female and male vocals, and you can here the indus element again. The song is also rather mid-tempo, with a good violins intervention from Pete Johansen (who has already performed on their previous album, as well as on the The Sins of thy Beloved albums). Tender Trip On Earth starts on a fast pace, but soon slow paces to result in a combination consisting of Vibeke's voice and choirs (typical Tristania's trademark), along with clear male vocals from Osten Bergoy, coupled with Jan Kenneth Barkved, both already present on Beyond The Veil.Lost is probably the song that features the most indus elements (let's hope the band will not proceed in this direction), even though the choirs elements are present. This songs also feature violins parts. According to what I have read on the message board of their webpage, it's the less appreciated song (I fully agree).Deadlocked is probably the most original and surprising song. It sounds a bit like A Tormented Soul on the Perpetual Desolation sophomore album from The Sins of thy Beloved, a really slow song that features the best vocals performance by Vibeke. Selling Out and Hatred Grows both feature the combination of all the elements described previously (violin, choirs, clean and growling male vocals), although hatred grows might be a leftover of Beyond The Veil. World Of Glass is certainly the most intense song on this release (well at least some parts of the song), combining every element featured on this album, but a thousand times better.Crushed Dreams is a boring song, as boring as Heretique was on Beyond The Veil. Typical Tristania's song though. I just don't like this one.The limited edition contains a cover of Seigmen's The Modern End, which is not the typical cover you would expect from this band. Where The Sins of thy Beloved surprised us with the Metallica cover of The Thing That Should Not Be, Tristania's first cover is a real surprise in the choice, but not in the result. In overall, Word Of Glass is very diversified, as different from Beyond The Veil as this one was to Widow's Weed. The band is still bringing joy and despair to the audience. The band was able to keep up with their sound and style, but also move a step forward. I would however just say that they lost some aggressiveness. I really do not understand why mainstream magazine (especially those from France) do not recognize their talent and do not give them more space in their pages. I just hope that they won't need another two years to release their next effort.