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Galadriel > Empty Mirrors of Oblivion > Reviews
Galadriel - Empty Mirrors of Oblivion

the female vocals really kill their music - 74%

Mayday, August 19th, 2006

"Empty Mirrors of Oblivion" is the reedition of the first three albums of Slovak Dark/Doom metal band Galadriel, which is actually the best name for a collection of material from several albums, since their first three albums are called "Empire of Emptiness", "the Mirror of Ages" and "Oblivion".

Galadriel have been around for a decade now, they have 5 albums, but still no major breakthrough, altough they are quite known in the underground. Is it because the music is mediocre and there are tons of bands who do the same thing, only better? Maybe...but in my opinion it has more to do with them hailing from Slovakia, a country which in various ways still suffers from cultural symptomes left behind by the socialist regime and underground bands not having the chance to get a proper distribution and promotion is one of them.

So why only 74%? Isn't that a rating I'd give a rather mediocre effort? Actually I'd give the album at least 10% more, if it wasn't for one major, really annoying flaw. the vocals. if you're acquainted with growling vocals - you won't have any problem with them - they are executed really well in a low, death metallish growl which compliments the dark atmosphere, mostly held in slower to midpaced rhythms, very well. Besides that I don't mind the growls. It's the female vocals, which rip my head off and make my ears bleed. I admit, I'm a bit biased, when it comes to female vocals in metal and in 90% of all cases I don't really like them, but I can tolerate them, when they're executed well. Sadly, Galadriels female voice has horrible knowledge of english pronounciation, her phrasing and intonation are practically non-existant and all of her singing is more reminiscent of a 12year old girl practicing her scales. I had the chance to witness a few concert during the short period of time, when Galadriel have split up with their female singer, thus fully leaving out the female vocals and while you may have expected holes in their sonic landscape, the music did better without them. So all I can do is to hope they'll do a reedition of their first three albums without the female vocals.

Vocals aside, the instrumental side of the music is mostly guitar-driven, with some tastefully inserted keyboard, or piano-interludes to underline the dark atmosphere. While the music on the first two albums found on CD2 tend to be slower, more doomy, the third album "oblivion" makes things faster, adds more guitar solos and mid-paced riffs, browsing territories between death and doom, while still maintaining the dark atmosphere characteristic for their material.

The lyrics are mostly what you'd expect from doom metal - loss, despair, or what you'd expect from a band named Galadriel - enchanted forests, fairies, some Tolkien. Some of the tracks (like Acheron, 1848, the Battle by Wogastisburg) are inspired by the history of Slavic tribes, which is very nice to see.

Overall I'm rather sad, but I can give this record only such a low rating, even though it has potential to receive much higher ratings - but the female vocals really kill it. Other than that, if you may be, are a big fan of female voices in metal, or you just don't mind - check it out, it's quality material with a characteristic edge, probably given my the Slavic roots of the band, which makes for a little different, but still enjoyable listen!