In Ania we Trist
Tristania are an interesting little project that I for one have never really taken to. "World Of Glass", an album of theirs released 2001, was a clever mix of etheral female vocals which soared and dived above a violent crashing wave of strong guitar work and strong male vocals. To a certain extent it worked, and whilst parts of World Of Glass just felt like the band were on auto pilot and just playing as opposed to creating. Thankfully, 'Ashes' has removed the "Just keep filling" mentality and replaced it with well thought out, intelligent metal. Vibeke Stene, the calming vocal element here, is on top form as her voice tells a harrowing and melodic story, perfectly paired with the melodic chug of the music behind her. Yet, even though a couple of the songs almost fall into the "same chugging beat" dangerzone of alot of female metal bands these days, Tristania seem to be able to avoid this where an awful lot of bands have failed.
Tracks that stand out on this album are definitly the first two - "Libre" is a direct clash of the titans - heavy male vocals against Stene's warbling. This song is only surpassed by "Equilibrium" which has again the strong female vocals, with somewhat weak male vocals alongside, and a lovely sliding riff that , to my ears at least, reminded me of some of the calmer Nightwish songs, and that can only be a very, very good thing indeed.
Tristania are definitely a horse to watch - touring with Nightwish in 2005 will almost certainly generate some interest that the band deserves. Not that it will generate any more from me - my ears are already pricked up.