Beyond the Veil

It’s finally time to admit it: I am committing a major sin when it comes to the gothic side of Metal. I was always a gothic/symphonic metal enjoyer, but at the same time… there was something in the genre that pulled me apart. Was it the excess of symphonic elements? Was it the overdoing of choirs (at least when it comes to this album)? There was always something that attracted me to the symphonic/gothic spectre, but on the other hand… I found those parts to be a little cringe when overused.

But this leads me back to the original point: I am committing a capital sin when it comes to gothic/symphonic metal. To give you some context, gothic metal pioneers Tristania, who defined the baselines of such subgenre (while mixing it with symphonic metal and doom metal tendencies) announced their disbandment a year ago, wrapping up more than a quarter of a century on the road, with seven albums in the meantime. And the reason why I’m commiting such sin is that I only dove into Tristania shortly after they disbanded, when I spent countless hours navigating in the mourningful layers of their genre-defining debut album, “Widow’s Weeds”.

Some may argue – and rightfully so – that Tristania lost their essence in two pivotal points of their 26-year long journey: First, in December 2000, when founding member, guitarist and harsh vocalist Morten Veland left the band to form Sirenia; and then, in February 2007, when soprano vocalist Vibeke Stene (one of the core figures of gothic metal in its prime) called it quits with the band she helped put on the map with her somewhat angelic soprano tone. However, if one listens to “Beyond the Veil”, one is far from imagining that Morten Veland would wrap up four years of his life and a significant part of his career shortly after.

Let’s start with the positives: BtV – let’s address it this way – is Tristania at their highest peak, it’s the consolidation of a mythical journey that didn’t get a proper follow up exactly because the band didn’t know how to cope with Morten’s departure and subsequently replaced him with what were, in my opinion, subpar choices for a position that carried such an important role.

Another interesting idea that permeates the conception of Tristania’s sophomore is the idea expressed in the title of the review, that indicates a slight change in the band’s style. “Widow’s Weeds” was a darker, sorrowful, yet highly poetical experience that could – and still does – delight the hardest ear to please for a little less than an hour. Its black metal riffage combined with Edgar Allan Poe-ish lyricism about the darkest side of love and longing made it an adventure rooted in despair and nostalgia, something that Vibeke Stene’s vocal lines throughout said album expressed perfectly (if you want evidence, listen to “December Elegy”, “My Lost Lenore”, and “Wasteland’s Caress”. You’ll thank me later). Contrary to it, BtV expresses the feeling of triumph, the mightiness of musical majesty, and creates an almost Godlike aura that no one has been able to replicate for the last 24 years.

Now, on to the negatives. This will probably be an unpopular opinion that only I will stand for, as everyone seems to dig the “three vocalists, three different approaches” combo. However, I’m not a fan of it. From the moment I heard Osten Bergoy’s voice for the first time (“Angellore”, from the aforementioned debut) that I felt it was not the best move for the band. It’s not that I don’t like the tone of his voice or the way he sings, I will even admit his voice gives the songs a darker feeling – it’s like you’re walking through the alleys of some abandoned castle in ruins and you hear him talk and realize you probably shouldn’t have gone there, and that is a nice sensation.

However, every time I hear him, I feel like he’s just… useless. The sound of the band doesn’t require him there by any means. Widow’s Weeds did perfectly fine without him, even “Angellore” would, as would do all the albums after this one. Not to mention that what gave Widow’s Weeds that sensation of despair was Vibeke’s vocal lines, that would be reduced in this album with Osten Bergoy taking part in it.

On that same matter, the “choir” aspect of the record is simply overdone. It doesn’t have – if I may put it this way – the right measure. I’m not saying the choir parts should not exist at all, as it would be something that the sound of this album would benefit, more so than its predecessor. But the thing is that it is explored to a point that it distracts the listener from what’s going on in the songs. The first time I listened to BtV I couldn’t almost tell anything about it except for “it has a lot of choirs”, and that’s something that damages the momentum of a record they label as Tristania’s magnum opus.

The other negative is the lack of solos or some perceptive melody hints. Widow’s Weeds didn’t have guitar solos too, but the absence was compensated by the violin work from Pete Johansen. BtV favoured the opera aspect of things to show us that they could go for the exact opposite of what they have done (and they nailed it on that aspect) but the lack of melody makes no song in that album to be perpetually etched in the listener’s head. The riffs are what we should expect from Morten, however, he too lowered the bar on that subject. They remain powerful and heavy, but at the same time seem uninspired and far too simple, lacking some sense of complexity.

To sum it up, BtV is, like I said, Tristania at its peak, considering that the following years would be a hit and miss journey for them – “World of Glass” was quite good, I personally enjoyed “Ashes” but, after that, it seemed like the band’s real heaviness and gloominess existed aeons ago. However, what they delivered in feeling and aura, they failed to accomplish in tangible things. Overdone choirs, simplistic riffage, no hearable melody… these are aspects that can make or break an album. In this case, they broke BtV. And they turned it into a quite… overhyped effort. However, considering what happened from 2001 onwards, it’s not hard for BtV to stand in a league of its own. But the fact that it didn’t reach the mightiness of Widow’s Weeds is something that will always take time for the fans to grasp.

In the Norwegian dark metal of the 90s, several large local scenes can be distinguished, and each of them had its own characteristics. Metal bands from Trondheim were characterized by schizoid vibes and experimental approach. Bergen scene was uncompromising and minimalistic, while Rogaland scene (centered in the city of Stavanger) had a wide interest in romanticism and gothic aesthetics. The earliest representatives of this were Carpathian Forest, who started in 92 as total outsiders and combined on their demos proto-black with a strong influence of thrash and heavy and cold ambient with lyrics by Edgar Allan Poe (by the end of the decade, the band will change style and aesthetics radically). Among the other black metal bands of this West Norwegian fylke, inspired by "gothic" themes (autumn, witchcraft, vampirism etc) and abundantly using keyboards and female vocals, one can recall Dismal Euphony and Gehenna. But it were Theatre of Tragedy who made the widest expansion into the mainstream. They combined British-style doom-death with gothic rock, live piano and colorful arrangements with female vocals. The first ToT albums spawned many imitators in terms of style and/or aesthetics. One of these was the band Tristania, founded by ambitious Morten Veland, a composer with an intractable demanding personality and extremely mainstream tastes. Morten got the interest in rock music from the 1980s glam rock. He still remains a huge fan of Guns'n'Roses and Alice Cooper, claiming that it were they who inspired him to make music his profession. His songwriting style is dictated by commercial and vainglorious goals. Among its features we may name a pronounced priority of form over content, the desire to put more "dust in the eye" at minimal cost and a cynical attitude to the lyrics. All this led to the rapid signing of the band to the major Napalm Records label and was represented in all its "glory" on the second Tristania album "Beyond the Veil". Napalm made a truly royal PR of the album: "Dante's Divine Comedy in music", "Killer new album out now" . The album was promoted in many dark metal zines; even a huge tour of North and South America was organized. For a young European band, this is a quick and large-scale success. In terms of sales, the release left other albums of the band behind. To this day “Beyond the Veil” enjoys a cult status: in many reviews around the world it is called the best album in the genre. Let's consider its real artistic value (or its absence).

Most of the gothic metal works of the 90s are based on British death doom, Celtic Frost heritage or Scandinavian melodic metal. Instead, in BtV we sometimes hear well-disguised 80s mainstream rock - both in-your-face glam and passages in the vein of the late Sisters of Mercy and The Mission, Veland's favorite bands that were influenced by glam rock. Such an approach favors the "club-dance" qualities, but does not contribute to the perception of BtV as a work dealing with existential experiences at all. Speaking of glam influences, the "Lethean River" track deserves special mention. There, the mainstream rock basis (including pieces inspired by Alice Cooper's "Hell is living without you" and The Sisters’ “Vision Thing”) is masqueraded by female pseudo-opera vocals, samples of Latin singing and sugary violin and piano passages.

The guitar work on the album is weak and bland. There are no guitar solos at all! In most of the tracks (for example, "Angina" and "A Sequel of Decay") we won't hear even simple lead parts. In some tracks, influences from northern black metal can also be heard. The most obvious examples are “Of Ruins and a Red Nightfall” and “Angina”. The second one, released as a single, is based on riffs taken from Dimmu Borgir's "Enthrone Darkness Triumphant" album. This piece of commercial black metal was certainly heavily listened to during the recording and served as the source of a number of ideas. For example, the effects and manipulations made with Veland's vocals is exactly the same as Shagrat's. In the panegyric reviews, Veland's voice is awarded with such epithets as "juicy", "powerful", "outrageous", However, if you look at the recordings of concerts without use of recorded backing tracks, it becomes clear that his unprocessed vocals are just mediocre harsh.

However, Veland doesn’t limit his scam to the processing of his own voice. The vocals of Vibeke Stene, who was crowned with “the queen of gothic metal” title by the press, was also subjected to very heavy edits in post-production. In my opinion, Stene is a professional but rather ordinary vocalist with lack of distinctiveness, and Beyond the Veil is clearly not something that can adequately represent her abilities. The female parts on the album are made through multiple copying, mixing and adding effects to get the impression of opera singer or a choir. In addition, the role of Stene in this period was reduced to 2-4 lines per song: the rest of the time she needed to perform half-naked dances on stage. The sultry image of Stene clearly contributed to attracting attention and increasing sales, as did the cover with naked girls.

Veland also shows huge ambitions and desire to splurge in the abundant use of samples. First of all, these are samples of the choir singers, taken from the Symphony of Voices collection. They are present on the album in huge numbers. You can also find samples of female orgasm (“Opus Relinque"). The first minute of "Angina" probably consists of a fragment of horror soundtrack (unfortunately, I could not find the source), and this is almost the only interesting part of the album.

Another of Mr. Veland's know-hows that were used on the album is the onomatopoeic pseudo-Latin language used for choir parts. Subsequently, it will migrate to other Veland’s projects, being used in almost every composition. However, even here he is unoriginal, since this has already been used before by popular new-age projects (for example, Era).

Another thing that is worth mentioning is the English lyrics … or rather, their extremely low quality. And it's not about just grammatical errors. The lyrics are written in a rather ponderous language, replete with archaisms and other words not used in everyday speech. But this was done clearly in order to ... mask the lack of meaningful content. On the previous Tristania album, the lyrics were also squalid (including many grammatical errors of elementary school level), but it had some subject matter: all songs were dedicated to various beauties and enchantresses. Here, Veland decided not to go on love verses the second time and preferred to approach the lyrics cynically, creating a sophomoric illusion of a "noble poetic style", so demanded by gothic girls in those years. When translating or carefully proofreading, it turns out that his verses are complete nonsense: what are the "lids gathering in a vast and frail crusade" (and then desorbing from the emerald seas) worth. Also some examples are:

“Angina striking Elysium
A frail remembrance glorificates the nightside-ascendance
veiled underneath thy funereal skies”

Or
“Woe strikes through radiant light
a quitus has conquered thy eyes
the sequel of life
Arising grievance rage through the eyes
of our existence a thousand times
The strife drawn hither as a daydream
ascendancy”

Probably, Veland himself understood his insignificance as a poet and his lack of original ideas (or their fear because of the desire to hit the jackpot). He also understood that he was incapable of being a talented visionary, through whose perhaps strange lyrics a whole worldview and a well-thought system of images shine through (like Anna-Varney of Sopor Aeternus or Jurgen Bartsch of Bethlehem). But his ambitions and desire to captivate people are great, so he composes the lyrics from an incoherent set of pathetic phrases, sometimes with an Old English twist (and with an abundance of school-level grammatical errors). Apparently, Veland considers his listeners to be superficial idiots who are so indifferent to the lyrics. But his lyrical approach demonstrates his motivation perfectly: his driving forces are vanity, the desire to captivate and delight, instead of expressing himself authentically.

No wonder such abstract pompous nonsense has generated many interpretations from enthusiastic fans. There was even a user on the band’s now-defunct forum, who saw in "Beyond the Veil" a concept album about a political conspiracy. Veland himself always avoids interviewers' questions about the lyrical content, using standard rhetoric like "let everyone decide for himself what it means." Veland adopted an approach to lyrics - a void hidden by a bright wrapper of archaic words – from Dani Filth, but made it even more incoherent.

Statements about Veland as the "king of gothic metal" and "the greatest composer of our time" (!), up to comparisons with Grieg and Mozart, cause nothing but facepalms. When creating the tracks, a "patchwork method" was used: they were collected from disparate themes written over a fairly long period of time. Abundant samples, frequent vocal changes and short New Age keyboard overtones are used to divert attention from the impotence of the guitar work. The melodies that Veland has written for the violinist Pete Johansen are still distinguished by the same characteristic narcissistic muliebrity that distinguishes him from other colleagues. They settle on the brain like condensed milk with sugar. There is no tension, concentrated grief, or any serious content at all. The work of the same violinist on the first The Sins of Thy Beloved album is much more adequate. Veland and sugary melodicism are just synonymous. The synth parts on the album also have a saccharine, pompous quality (the exceptions are the tracks composed by Moen and Hidle).

Although there is a drummer in the band, on "Beyond the Veil" only a drum machine was used (and it is brought to the fore in the whole mix). I don't know if it was the desire of the label (the introduction of electronic elements into the music was then fashionable in black and gothic metal) or the concept of the band members (Veland is a huge fan of The Sisters of Mercy, and they always used a drum machine). This decision increases danceability and poppyness in this case.

Everywhere and in everything, a verified commercial calculation can be seen. Drum machine and fast melodic (but not figurative) guitars set danceability and drive qualities. Choir samples, saccharine violin parts and artificially made "divine" vocals form a "goofy" entourage that captivates uncritical people. Pompous, albeit meaningless, lyrics, and inserts of Latin (both real, in samples, and fake onomatopoeic, in choral parts written by Veland) work for this also. However, despite a catchy and bright presentation, this work has a zero of depth and meaningfullness. It doesn’t tell about the personal experience of the creators and doesn’t even create a landscape of "the past that never was". The motivation of the authors, led by Veland, is subordinated to one goal - to get the admiration of the undemanding masses and to be able to earn a living from the album sales. In fact, Veland just stepped on safe ground and gathered in his project all things that teenage goth audience is greedy for, ignoring the less superficial aspects of music.

The great PR of the releasing label made Tristania one of the most popular goth metal bands. Interviews and panegyric reviews flaunted in many thematic zines (the band had the top priority status - that is, the most money was invested in its PR). "Beyond the Veil" became the band's most commercially successful album; there were more and more young goth bands that wanted to be like Tristania. In comparison with other contemporaries and predecessors of the genre (gothic metal in general is often more focused on external effects than on the depth of content), Veland looks like an ultimatum pest, elevating the shortcomings of the genre to an absolute. If you have enough knowledge of 1990s metal (or just read Veland's lyrics with an open mind), you will definitely not fall for all the gimmicks used here, but for newcomers to the underground, such work forms false standards and a vulgar, profane idea of the dark music in general.

The release may be of interest from the point of view of a marketing case, as an example of a cynical and prudent attitude to music and how PR makes "naked kings". For those who appreciate honesty and thoughtful approach in music, I highly recommend to bypass "Beyond the Veil".

It's quite a shame that my only review for Tristania was a negative one, because I actually like this band a lot. So, here's a new review to show I'm not too angry at them.

As i noted in my other review, Tristania has always introduced a new sound on every album, and succeeded in this new path. While "Widow's Weed" was traditional gothic/atmospheric/doom metal, "Beyond the Veil" is more a missing link between gothic and symphonic metal, even though it's a little hard to classify. But it's a masterpiece just like "Widow's Weed".

It's that kind of complex album, not prog but almost, with long songs and constant changes. The songs alternate between loud choirs, quiet vocals and growls, quiet moments and heavy riffs, sad and cruel lyrics. The three vocalists are great. Morten Veland is one of the few people that can make growls sound as emotional as clean singing, Oysten Bergoy has a very beautiful voice. I really like the moment when he sings "An angel strays upon my door, so frail and lost within" on "A Sequel of Decay". As for Vibeke Stene, I love this woman's voice. Much like Liv Kristine when she was in Theatre of Tragedy, she has an ethereal (read: very high pitched and soft) voice, but hers has a little more depth, and a certain darkness, we could say. She is as good as always to sing softer moments, but she does another thing with her voice that we hadn't heard before: she sings in a completely operatic style, but that is a little buried, as if she was singing with a choir, except she's alone and sort of does the whole choir on her own. Even though she doesn't have a big kind of operatic voice (like, say, Tarja Turunen or Lori Lewis), her singing still brings a certain power to the chorus of "Angina".

As for the lyrics, from what I can understand, it's about, well, decay, decline, deterioration, things in that register. While the first songs are more focused on depression or loneliness, with "Opus Relinque", it gets angrier, to later involve a devastating epidemic of angina, violent desires ("Heretique" and its "Let us be the ones to put the thorn in thy eye" line), and a final track called "Dementia", where the narrator describes himself as "vile…surreal". So this is another album about a descent into all sorts of negative things. Its appeal comes from its slight scariness and theme of madness, but also its very good music.

Tristania doesn't really have any bad album (at least they didn't when they were still good), but this is definitely one of the most remarkable. It leaves a strong impression and is very nice to listen to, almost like one beautiful song/fascinating story...

If there was a single album one could use to describe the sound and atmosphere of gothic metal, it would be Tristania's Beyond the Veil. Tristania has made it their business to compose masterful gothic metal, and indeed they continue to do so 'till this day, however Beyond the Veil proved both that former member Morten Velend was the mastermind behind the band, and that this was their all time peak.

Beyond the Veil opens up with a very somber and beautiful section by Vibeke Stene, presenting the listener with a sort of peace. This is short lived, as within moments the listener is assaulted with pounding drums and guitars making way for Velend's beastly vocals.

Those first two minutes are enough to bring forth a state of rapture as the rest of the album unfolds. From the ass-kicking riff on the opening of Aphelion, the soaring choir brought upon by Vibeke in A Sequel of Decay, the seductiveness of Opus Relinque, meandering melodies of Lethen River, a fantastic duo performance by Velend and Stene on Angia, and ...Of Ruins And A Red Nightfall, all finally closing off with more intensity and soaring male choirs on Heretique, Tristania demonstrates their mastery of all instruments and song structures.

Indeed, all instruments are played to their utmost potential, and arranged and composed perfectly. There aren't any sections that are drawn out too much. Choirs, vocals, riffs, slower instrumental sections, all are proportioned perfectly, never leaving an overplayed feeling, just satisfaction, except in one regard. I felt Vibeke could've played a bigger part in vocals throughout the album. Her voice is too fitting to only appear as much as it did.

Definite highlights include ...Of Ruins And A Red Nightfall, A Sequel of Decay, and Angina. I've gotten a fair amount of disagreement, but I feel Beyond the Veil, the opener, isn't up to par with the other songs. That's not to say it isn't wonderful, but when matched up with the other tracks it simply falls short. All in all though, the album is the quintessence of gothic metal. Tristania emerges on top with this display of musicianship. Anybody looking to get into the genre, or needs assurance that gothic metal isn't the red-headed step child of metal, should definitely get their hands on this one!

Before Veland's departure, Tristania brought forth this master work of their early says. Having outdone their kindred Theatre of Tragedy on their first try, they proceeded to make the best gothic metal album possible on their second. This album is rougher and darker than their later World of Glass, which would take gothic metal into a more orchestral, choral realm. A novice goth would find this one too hard to handle no doubt, but in those vicious attacks on the ears are hidden the truly sublime.

Each track here goes deeper into dark territory. From the beginning we are granted a work depressive and sinister in tone, that opens suddenly into sequences of beauty and orgasmic operatic heights, only to steal that away and continue an assault of fog and beasts. Nowhere in this variety of tones does the album slow or stagnate, never are we given anything to latch onto and hold like a leitmotif. Nothing here will seem catchy until maybe the 5th listening, and then only in the way that leeches catch on: This is not Andrew Lloyd Weber, this is a twisted dark group who know what they're doing, and don't hold back.

This album never degenerates into the hokum possible with utter Norwegian darkness or gothic fiction, it maintains it's place just above, always in view of the darkest most beautiful sounds, but never falls into it's possible pits of overdone potential (I'm looking at you, Therion...) If you have any interest in gothic music, this is surely as good as music gets.

Following along the veins of "Widow's Weeds", "Beyond the Veil" is yet another masterpiece from one of the best gothic metal bands I've ever heard. Easier to listen to than "Widow's Weeds", this album is what I would recommend to anyone new to the band (or genre, for that matter).

"Beyond the Veil" contains excellent gothic metal with added symphonic elements. Like "Widow's Weeds", it includes a harsh vocalist (Morten Veland), an operatic female vocalist (Vibeke Stene) and a clean male vocalist (Osten Bergoy). Once again, harsh vocals appear more often than the others. Female and male vocals are a bit more frequent here than in the debut, but still don't have more than a quarter of the lyrics in each song. As always, the vocalists are flawless and deliver a lot of power.

Music is a bit different. Guitars are given a higher importance than before, and keyboards play a bigger part in the music. This creates a more accessible sound than the one present on the debut. However, it's not a big a change like the ones that are occurring between each of their later albums. You can still tell it's from the same band that released "Widow's Weeds". And also, like in almost every Tristania album, Einar continues to impress me with his talent and ability to make every track sound like paradise.

In my opinion, only two tracks would deserve a 9/10 ("Opus Relinque" and "Simbelymne"). The rest are all perfect and gripping in every way possible. My personal favourite would have to be the title track, which is the song that first got me hooked on the band.

This is probably the album I'd recommend to gothic metal fans who are new to Tristania, since it has a very accessible sound. “Beyond the Veil” is a stunning release, and takes the listener to a whole other world

I was dragged out of lurking by the guy who reviewed this album and said it was like lacuna coil and nightwish and had keyboards like Children of Bodom's (and then gave it a 70-something). This reviewer did not actually listen to this album, or he would have realized:
A) This album has no powermetal aspects whatsoever
B) This album is not solo centered
C) This album is dark
D) The keyboards are used 9 times out of 10 to stand in for other instruments that the band apparently did not have access to in the studio, IE harpsicord, piano, orchestra hits. They are not used to drive riffs like CoB's (CoB's keys are ok, but sometimes sound like something out of a Capcom game)
E) There are specialized vocalists for every vocal style

I gave this album a 100 because it is my the best goth metal album to date and because the average needs to reflect this. Let me break that down a bit.
The artists seem to know what they are doing throughout the entire album. The production is excellent, but not crispy. It sounds like it was recorded in a church, and the sound has a bit of staying power. This makes everything on the album sound like it has a lot of power, a lot of impact. The album also sounds dark. Not blackmetal dark, a different dark. A more dignified dark. The electric guitars are talented, but that isnt what the music centers on. The guitar shines the most when it is a blend of acoustic guitar under electric guitar. The sound on this album is all very layered, that is the main feel of the album. Unlike a great deathmetal album though, your ear isnt drawn to pick apart the music, it is very much a whole. The album gives you the impression that everyone in this band is obscenely competent.

The tracks:
1) Beyond the Veil
My favorite track. The begining with the lead female vocal is amazing. Then the music hits, and is very percussive. The harsh male vocals and the accoustic guitar then hit, and the sound reaches a level of completeness and feeling I have never heard before. The female vocals break in every now and then with 3 or 4 layer harmonies that melt your soul. The lyrics are excellent, they are dark and romantic but still enraged. I want to meet the girl this song is about. The song ends with the clean male lead fading out in a deep melodic chant that will grab you and pull you into the next track.
2) Aphelion
This is the "low" point on the album, and I say "low" because the track before and after it are so great you may be forced to skip it on occasion. This is a cool down track, a nostalgic track. The guitars roll with the keyboard and occasional breakdowns drive the track further. The build-ups and breakdowns continue throughout the track, and vocalists shift with the speed of the music. The female lead has an excellent set near the end.
3) Sequel of Decay
This is a really sexy song. Women love this song. Listen to this song with women. If you are a woman, get this song. It reminds me of a better orchestrated version of the sound Metallica used to put into their slower pre-reload songs like "Unforgiven". This is my second favorite on the album. The lyrics are excellent. The gradual build-ups are very powerful. The clean male vocals are the best on the album. This is the song many people would buy this album for. Think "My Dying Bride" on a really good day, but with more variety. Its 6 minutes long and could use another 4.
4) Opus Relinque
This song opens with sort of a club-goth feel. Then it gets pissed off. This song is excellent. There are some parts in this song that would make Cradle of Filth shit thier pants and beg forgiveness for such sins as "Nymphetomine".
5) Lethean River
The begining is mellow with some accoustic guitar. This is a very good song in general, and it fits together well. Much less chaotic than the last track, with some great melodies. The violin sections are very good. This song makes me wish these guys had an orchestra.
6) ...Of Ruins And A Red Nightfall
This song is also led by a rolling guitar. The layering of the harsh vocals is excellent. The violin is excellent too. There is some excellent imagery in this track. It fits snuggly into the middle of this album, and has an interesting rhythm that can entrance you if you let it.
7) Simbelmyne
This is better than the vast majority of instrumentals you will hear in the middle of a goth album. This is a piano song that sets the mood for the next track.
8) Angina
This is an excellent song. Its hard, but still has some excellent melodies. The harsh male vocals have some excellent layerings with the lead female near the end. The end of the song combines violin and the rest of the song's feel into an excellent conclusion. The keyboards really show the talent of the player in this track. The end pounds as hard as any oldschool deathmetal album.
9) Heretique
What a song. This song has some excellent clean male vocals in it and feels more inquisitive than the rest of the album. This song also has a bit of a groove in the middle with clean male chior vocals.... it works really well though. This level of slickness and experimentation is what the majority of "World of Glass" ( the album after this) went for. This is a really subtle slash at religion, and it's a stylish one at that. Its tracks like this that add the layer of dignity to Tristania's vibe that blackmetal (excluding Emperor) often lacks (or chooses to leave out).
10) Dementia
A slow and sorrowful outro. This is a the metaphorical fall of the album, it is an excellent way to end it. This is a Goth album. No happy endings (damn nightwish).

If you like excellent music, buy this album. This is what goth metal should sound like. This is the perfection of the genre. The only way to improve this album would be to give the artists as they were at this time a multimillion dollar budget and 3 years for this album so they could make exactly what they wanted to without any limits. If those keyboards could have been organs, harpsicords, and orchestra, and a piano, this would be the best album you would ever hear. It still may be. Get it now.

And what the hell, this sounds nothing like Nightwish and CoB. Those bands are fine, but this is a different style entirely. Come on. Thats like saying Stone Temple Pilots and Slayer sound alike because they use guitars.

Widow's Weeds was/is a great album, especially for a debut full-length. However, it's hard to find it great when compared up to the amazing Beyond the Veil.. Everything was at it's best here, the production, the instruments and especially the songwriting in my opinion.. Favorite tracks include ...of Ruins and a Red Nightfall, Aphelion, Opus Relinque, title track and Angina. The title track was the perfect way to start this amazing album. With it's great intro, first 30 seconds are rather quiet and sung by Vibeke Stene, then it picks up nicely with Morten Veland's well recognisable growl at 47 seconds in.. Other memorable moments for me on this album include 5:30-6:37 on Beyond the Veil as it slows down with some great clean male vocals at the end performed by Østen Bergøy, 1:13-1:50 on A Sequal of Decay with it's very chilling, melodic violin, 2:46-3:10 on Angina which is greatly sung by Vibeke Stene, she doesn't seem to have many big highlights on this album but this one really made a difference in this song to me.. But the biggest highlight on the whole album for me is the 6 minutes, 22 seconds that is ...of Ruins and a Red Nightfall, best blend of harshness and melody that has ever reached my ears, the riffage in this song is amazing, the keyboards help very much as well, if you listen to this song once you're likely to listen 1 or 2 more times at the very least.

Although many would disagree, I think Beyond the Veil easily surpasses any Theatre of Tragedy release or any of it's kind.. I originally planned to give it a 99, but that just doesn't seem like a fair judgement seeing as how it's my favorite album.. Easily the best gothic metal album ever released in my opinion..100!!

Tristania are a mix of gothic and operatic metal. Thats how I see their music anyhow. There is a great variety of vocals (death, clean male and female) on here, and they blend together perfectly. Most of the music on this album is harsh, but somehow the operatic female vocals manage to add something softer and more calming to the songs without ruining the previously mentioned harshness.
After reading earlier reviews of this album and listening to the album numerous times over the year or so that I've had it, I've just noticed that there are no guitar solo's. Normally one of the main things I look for is good guitar soloing, but Tristania's music sounds amazing even without any of the guitar solo's. Hell, I didn't even notice the lack of soloing untill someone else mentioned it to me.
And finally, even through all the savagry of the music on here, the keyboards and violins add alot of beauty to it. I enjoy it when a band can add some of those symphonic elements into the middle of a song without it sounding forced or out of place.

Best Tracks: A Sequel of Decay, Opus Relinque, Lethean River, Heretique, and Dementia.

This album begins with it's title track and starts of with some good female vocals, 34 seconds in the music starts and after 48 seconds the harsh vocals comes in my eyes quite surprising harsh vocals. The most unique thing about this Norwegian band is the three vocalist that is all specialist on different types of vocals and more surprising these days) they are all good!

Now these can’t happen? A band that has three great vocalist? Actually Tristania proves me wrong and if you like clean vocals, female vocals and not to aggressive type of music this is something for you!

After “beyond the veil” comes “Aphelion”(almost eight minutes long) that has some great keyboard sounds(though they are kind of weird). It has no clean vocals clean(made by the male vocalist) almost and it’s only a track with female chorus and male harsh vocals and it probably will surprise you many times since I it never ends!

In “A Sequel of Decay” the clean vocalist those his first entry! Quite boring to actually have three vocalist on stage. This is the “clean male vocals night” if compare to the other two tracks, though he dosen’t have to much lines to sing in this track. The first 5 songs is all over 6 minutes, 5 last has only one that is over 6 minutes and a total length of 52 minutes. Norway proves to me that they have good band that isn’t black metal.

This is easy the three best tracks and easy one of the better albums in –99 and Vibeke is a worthy opponent to Nightwish Tarja as the best female vocalist and this beats Lacuna Coils – “Comalies” pretty much in every way they can beaten in.

Beyond the Veil isn't your usual metal, even compared to goth music. If you've never heard Tristania before, it is like Lacuna Coil. If you've never heard them it's like Nightwish, with both a women singer and a male singer with harsh vocals.

This album really didn't impress me all that much. You can barely hear the guitar riffs over everything else. The riffs are cool, nothing to get excited about though. There are no solo's which was very depressing. The symphonics are pretty cool, nice effects and all, but I think that it is overdone to the point of dullness. The vocals on the other hand are pretty good. The female can sing pretty good, which is like opera style. Some times she sings in the background when the male is singing, which reminds me a lot of Therion (but it sounds better than Therion).

The harsh vocals department is good as well. They're harsh vocals; deep growly tone, you either like it or you don't. Sometimes the guy will sing in a clean tone that gives it a nice edge, this kind of reminds me of Opeth (but the singer is more articulate with his tone, thus making it better than Opeth). Another great thing about this album is the keyboards, very melodic at times and at other times very 'Up and in your face' style, like Children of Bodom.

Another bad quaility is the length of the songs, most being at least 6-7 minutes, give or take a few. Sometimes the songs just seem long and drawn out. There are a lot of good (decent) songs on her. The chick even fakes an orgasm on Opus Relinque (interesting?). You see, there is one overall great quality about this album, and that is its tone. It sets a mood of darkness and melodic at the same time. It leaves great feelings upon the listener, which is something I always look for in these kind of genres. I recommend it to people who like goth stuff, or if your willing to try it, go for it. You might like it. I am just inbetween I guess.