Tristania
Beyond The Veil

THE REVIEW

The Tristania, along with Theatre of Tragedy, have been the most important group in the “Beauty and the Beast” metal: that is, Gothic enriched by an angelic female voice (in Tristania Vibeke Stene) and an infernal male growl (Morten Veland).

Tristania, at least in their early works, manage to unite gothic, orchestrations, choirs, black, and death with excellent results. Beyond the veil is their second album and in my opinion the best of their discography, consisting of 10 tracks that each last on average more than 6 minutes.

The title track is incisive and direct, thanks to the use of beautiful violin inserts, “Aphelion” is a very dark and infernal piece, “A sequel of decady” is the sweetest and most melodic track, adorned with celestial choirs, “Opus relinque” is one of the best tracks on the album: various tempo and heaviness changes, with an excellent contrast between the two voices and string orchestrations, enriched by some parts of keyboard, “Lethean River”, another wonderful piece, opens with the harmonious voice of a child and continues with alternating heavy and light moments. The closure, handled by keyboards, is beautiful, “Of Ruins And a Red Nightfall” is a track that goes quite unnoticed (one of the flaws of the album), “Symbelmyne” is a very dark track where only the keyboard is played, “Angina” is another small masterpiece, among orchestrations, keyboards, gothic choirs, black heaviness, and double voices: stunning, “Heretique” is a heavy track with almost futuristic atmospheres, where only the male voice sings. The CD closes with “Dementia”, an almost Christmas-like piece.

In short, my judgment is extremely positive, especially thanks to the decadent and dark atmospheres that this CD knows how to deliver. Recommended to everyone.