Artrosis
Hidden Dimension

THE REVIEW

Have you ever heard of Artrosis? I hope you have, but I have a feeling that for many, this will be the first time their name is mentioned. On the internet, (on Google, for example) you can't even find a review about them; they seem to not exist, yet in Poland, they are considered the best Gothic Metal band. This issue has to do with record labels; sometimes contracts are signed with labels that don't distribute albums in certain parts of the world, thus not guaranteeing success for the bands. A real pity, because in my opinion, Artrosis deserves to be known.

I bought the CD used just out of curiosity and without knowing who they even are. Honestly, at the first superficial listen, I was a bit disappointed because their style seemed vague and poorly defined, but then after listening to it many more times over time, much more attentively, at the moment I realized that I was singing the songs myself, I analyzed it well. Now I judge it as an original album, far from any type of gothic metal heard so far. The singer is a woman, and like the voice of Nightwish, she tends to "sing lyrically" but in a context totally devoid of epicness and instrumental extremism, rather in a delicate, vitreous, and sweet melody. The power is minimally hinted at and there is no character of "Melodic Speed", in return it's a modest and simple gothic style, with many mystical atmospheres. It is calm, nocturnal, atmospheric, and poetic, but not too similar to Lacrimosa due to a fair amount of cold and slightly raw sounds.

The songs are a bit heavier, much like those of old gothic bands, with many sounds that recall cathedrals, and the female voice strongly evokes the idea of lament, frustration, and crying. In short, it seems like gothic at the origin, before the genre was influenced by all the other different metal categories. In terms of melody, it will never reach the levels of "October Rust" by Type O Negative nor Within Temptation for technique, in fact, the band's compositional system has a hint of humility, but the true essence of metal (at a classical level) is always felt, both in the drums and the guitar, and the melodic vein is given both by the soaring of this semi-lyrical voice and by the fluid and particular (almost ancient) sound of the keyboards.

At times, they seem to have slightly Asian tendencies due to the frequent rhythm of "Arab" or "Egyptian" influence. I particularly recommend the last song: "Emerald Night"