Tristania - Widows Weeds

Out of all the recent metal bands featuring female gothic vocals, I think Tristania is the closest to the world of extreme metal. Heralding from Norway, they combine the sound of Carpathian Forest-style black metal with the gothic sounds of Theatre of Tragedy or many gothic/dark wave bands. Vibeke Stene gives the record a sense of operatic beauty, while singer/guitar player Morten Veland brings a black metal edge to the whole record.

The album opens with a short "Preludium," which then turns into the long and epic "Evenfall." All the songs are epics, really. Veland and Stene compliment each other perfectly on this record, with Stene's beautiful vocals and Veland's black metal growl. Lyrically, they have a very gothic attitude (even name checking Poe on "My Lost Lenore"), with a lot of thee's and thou's. This aspect of their music may not be completely to the liking of a lot of Transcending The Mundane's readers, but I think their lyrics fit the music very well, and everything does work very well.

Obviously, since this is their first CD, there are some weaknesses. They from time to time sound a bit close to both Cradle of Filth and Carpathian Forest (in a few chords), and also Darkthrone. Stene's vocals really are what elevates this record above most black metal, as if there was only Veland, this record would have lost a great deal of its charm.

I think out of the current crop of female singer metal bands Tristania is probably the best. While Theatre of Tragedy is a mainly gothic band, and Lacona Coil is a little too continentally pop metally, Tristania, at least on this record, combine gothic beauty with black metal darkness perfectly, creating the best gothic black metal CD I've heard this side of Dusk...And Her Embrace.