TRISTANIA ILLUMINATION ALBUM STEAMHAMMER, PLAYGROUND RELEASE: JANUARY 22, 2007 REVIEW: JANUARY 28, 2007

Music is supposed to bring forth emotions, memories and thoughts in the listener. And the, at times, almost parodically dark and brooding goth metal perhaps even more so. In that respect Norway's Tristania succeeds, without doubt, when the band unleashes its nice and sometimes quite heavy guitars and three vocalists. Despair, longing, sense of wonder are all hinted at, but also – unfortunately – a sense of … unease when confronted with the weak song structures.

The ones who have listened more to Tristania than me say that the band were even less inclined to sound like regular goth rock on past albums. Then I’m glad that at least a few songs, like "Mercyside", actually manages to sound like a real song, rather than an atmospheric piece where theatrical soprano Vibeke Stene wails away a bit and Morten Veland growls, bringing forth memories of bands from Theatre of Tragedy to Nightwish. I’d rather hear Osten Bergoy sing in his clear tenor over crisp guitars, that would make me remember and miss the old record "Under a Clouded Sky" by the Swedish band Bay Laurel.

I actually like a few songs in the beginning and in the end of "Illumination". But even so, and despite the fact that Tristania is one of today's most popular goth metal bands with eight or so albums behind them, I’m repeatedly reminded of the Swedish interpretation of the word "trist": "Boring".

KALLE MALMSTEDT