By Time Alone

I first heard from the band and this album when I saw the brilliant and creepy video clip of the opener "At The Mountains Of Madness" on a compilation record. I actually thought this was a modern band and was surprised to discover that this record is from the mid-nineties. Today, many band mix harsh death vocals with operatic approaches and soft female vocals but at that time when the metal scene was running low, Orphanage delivered something quite unique and visionary.

I like the mixture of straight death metal tracks such as the hidden bonus song "The Crumbling Of My Denial" on one side and more epic and majestic gothic songs like "Cliffs Of Moher". The bonus track even employs some electronic elements which underlines the open-minded creativity of the guys and the girl from the Netherlands. But the band is best when they unite both sides like in the fantastic opener and band hymn "At The Mountains Of Madness" or the calm and spiritual "Requiem". Orphanage switch easily and quickly between spiritual and ethereal choirs, female operatic voices, slight orchestra samples and a lot of piano work on one side and sharp simplistic but effective riffs, powerful harsh vocals and even dark narrative passages on the other side. The band develops a strong and dark atmosphere that reminds me of the horror metal approaches from recent bands such as "The Vision Bleak" or "Marienbad" but also the earlier days of "Therion". This band does almost some pioneer work and has a lot of potential. It's a shame that they didn't get the success they would have deserved and split up so early and they surely do a better job than bands such as “Sirenia”, “Angtoria” or “Atargatis” that try to copy this style nowadays.

I really suggest any fan of gothic metal music with guts to check this charming and visionary record out. Even though some tracks are less convincing and get a little bit repetitive in the middle of the album, the band employs a really good mixture between the beauty and the beast of the gothic metal genre.

The first metal-release I bought, ever, inspired by the excellent video-clip accompanying 'At the Mountains of Madness' (the song is slightly different on the album, on the album the grunts are at one point interjected with harsh screams).

At the Mountains of Madness, being based on a Lovecraft story, was in fact the song that inspired me to start reading Lovecraft when I read what it was based on. Ancient Rhymes was also based on a Lovecraft story, but before anyone might suspect a lack of inspiration on the behalf of Orphanage, it's not directly based on one story.

Anyway, By Time Alone is jampacked with solid songs. Orphanage seems to like to make their songs heavy, with emphasis on bombasm and atmosphere.

The songs are very varied. Cliffs of Moher is a song that starts as a sort of ballad about the failure of man in respect to nature, and ends in a crescendo mockingly singing the the fate man will receive. By Time Alone on the other hand is the kind of song that would become your favorite on a compilation disc, because it takes you up and makes you bang your head. Then you got songs like Requiem that start solemn with the choir chanting (I'm told sophisticated) Latin phrases and go over in a sort of doom-esque song.

The comparison between gothic and doom would not totally miss their point with Orphanage, but then you got the brutal/heavy elements as well. The feel of the music has it's connection to the atmosphere of gloomy castles, and perhaps even some fantasy-elements.
Overall, an album that has captured my aproval, as it's a more matured version of their previous album in every way (so an improvement on a good thing basically). Of note is the replacement of Martine van der Loon, who was also kicked out of early The Gathering, with Rosan van der Aa. Rosan is as I'm told a very skilled vocalist, in comparison to say a Sharon den Adel, but on the spectrum of powerfull straightforward voices, she's on the other edge. The vocals might seem weak, but in fact they have their own charm.

PS: props for doing a song on what I interpret as being about the euthanasia of Rosan van der Aa's grandparents. Very powerfull lyrics.