Handley_Page
Draco interdum Vincit
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Ogg, how wonderful. I did not realise that it was a Henry Willis (Grand Master of the organ).
What Are You Listening to Now 7.0
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Ogg, how wonderful. I did not realise that it was a Henry Willis (Grand Master of the organ).
litfan10
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Nice! Thanks, I didn't know this version
Blind_Justice
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Heh, Theatre of Tragedy and Tiamat made some of my teenage years' soundtrack. I have nothing bad to say about ToT up to and including "Velvet..." They took the formula of operatic female voice in contrast to death metal outlined by Paradise Lost and made it very popular. A bit primitive by today's standards, but charming. Outfits like Draconian, Tristania, The Sins Of Thy Beloved and especially Siebenbürgen rotated pretty often in my CD drive.
Tiamat... They had two good albums (Clouds and Wildhoney) and then shot themselves in the foot by trying really, really hard to be avant garde, despite neither their songs or singer being especially good. Johan Edlund did lay down a good take for Ayreon, but that's probably more Arjen's doing than his. It is possible for death metal bands/musicians to evolve in strange and beautiful ways - while talking Arjen Lucassen's co-musicians, I can't help but mention Dan Swanö, whose output with Edge Of Sanity, let alone Nightingale or Witherscape, has more facets than whatever Tiamat have done since Wildhoney. And lets not forget Therion, Death or Cynic. They all started more or less as pure noise mongers and grew into some beautiful weird directions. Therion went all in with classical music, Death became very techy and melodious (I'd happily give my left testicle for that oft-rumored second Control Denied album!) and Cynic are in a jazz-proggy universe all their own.
Haulover
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Excellent observations - thanks!
I have 3 albums by Tiamat, and 5 by Tristania. I agree that Tiamat's Wildhoney was their best, and mentioned that to them in my interview - though it didn't draw any reaction.
There are a few other ToT-like outfits in my collection, though I don't play them much. I'm not familiar with some of the bands you mentioned, though (Draconian, The Sins Of Thy Beloved, Siebenbürgen) - are they worth researching?
Lately, I've been picking a random letter of the alphabet, then spinning an album from about every 20th act in the list. (ALL of my music has been ripped, so it's just a quick scroll of the mouse and a few clicks to do this selection.) This time the random selection was the letter "T" - hence the ToT, Tristania, Tiamat, Trettioariga Kriget, Trespass, The Who,
Tool, Tracy Hitchings, Teru's Symphonia, Ten Jinn, Triumvirat ... etc. in my recent playlist.
Regarding Dan Swanö - I completely agree!! I only have 3 Edge Of Sanity albums - I need to put them (and some Nightingale) into rotation soon. He worked with my friend Henning Pauly some time ago (~2008?) on a project called Frameshift, but that eventually fell apart.
Blind_Justice
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My pleasure.
I've met Edlund once after a gig in Frankfurt and, in stark contrast to, for example, Christofer Johnsson of Therion, he came across as wanting to be anywhere else. My girlfriend and I spent a fantastic after-show hour with the Therion lads (shortly after "Theli" released) and Christofer was a very soft-spoken, yet hilarious guy.
Absolutely! Draconian have yet to release a bad album. They tend to go for the slow, doom metal approach. They changed their female singer two albums ago and personally, I prefer the old one, although the new one isn't bad by any means - she just sounds incredibly similar to a young Sharon Den Adel of Within Temptation while the old one had a clear, beautiful voice without any operatic yodeling which I found very pleasant on the ears.
TSOTB's first album was fantastic, afterwards they tried to break free of the "Beauty & the Beast" mold by going much harsher than for example Theatre Of Tragedy, but they lost a bit of their charm in doing so. They have just two albums and a live record to their name before disappearing from the scene.
Siebenbürgen's first three albums are something special. They approached the "Beauty & the Beast" genre from another angle, which in their case was black metal - extremely fast, frantic guitars, hoarse barking instead of cookie monster growls and a distinctly lo-fi mix - but it worked. Afterwards, they aimed more towards the gothic metal mainstream by toning down the frenzy and completely losing their special charm. Still, their first three are a solid must-hear.
Sirenia was founded by Morten Veland, a former Tristania member and he picked up where his old band left off before "World Of Glass". The first two Sirenia albums sound a lot like Tristania (add the Mortemia album to that, because that's basically Sirenia with choirs instead of female vocals) while his later output tends towards the Nightwish side of Symphonic Metal. Quality varies (The first two are freaking awesome, then there's a dip while he's searching for a new direction, then it has an upswing, with the last two being pretty amazing again)
Since you're on a "T" kick, you might want to give Trail Of Tears a spin. Early on, they were a rather okay "me too" death metal with female voices act before going completely nuts, changing up their style pretty much every record after "Disclosure in Red". Not too familiar with their whole work, but I thought I'd mention them.
Extra mentions: Battlelore (more Symphonic than goth/death with female voices), The Foreshadowing (no female voices, but imagine Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode helming a Doom Metal band!) and of course the grand-daddies of everything gothic and furious, Cradle Of Filth. Their musical arc has everything from '90s thrash metal to blast beats and operatic vocals, sometimes all in one track. I love them to bits.
Dan is a total workaholic, so it only makes sense not everything clicks. I'll strongly recommend both Witherscape albums (Opeth, but less challenging) and everything Nightingale (basically powerful hard rock featuring his wonderful clear voice). Another bonus mention: Tarot, the former band of Marko Hietala (former nightwish bassist). If you can stand his ...nordic vocals, this might be fun to listen to.
Blind_Justice
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Nestor - On The Run
A(nother) cool '80s throwback. If the album keeps what this song promises, it will be a winner.
A(nother) cool '80s throwback. If the album keeps what this song promises, it will be a winner.
Misshotndeep
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Chillhop Winter 2020. Only thing good that year made. 
Blind_Justice
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Nestor - Kids in a Ghost Town (album)
The title is somewhat misleading since the musicians are old farts by now, but oh my, do they know how to rock! The whole album is a best-of the '80s, tastefully mixing post-Dio Rainbow, Journey and Europe-flavored hard rock into a delicious neon and chrome sundae. Both vocals and guitars deserve special mention. The singer has great pipes and tons of feeling while the guitarist loves toseason his riffs with all kinds of little twirls and licks which give the tunes some legs. The keyboards are there, but not nearly as annoyingly dominant as, for example, on Europe's mid-80s output.
The album has hooks for days, a nice, fat mix and won't overstay its welcome at around 40 minutes of run time. Highly recommended!
The title is somewhat misleading since the musicians are old farts by now, but oh my, do they know how to rock! The whole album is a best-of the '80s, tastefully mixing post-Dio Rainbow, Journey and Europe-flavored hard rock into a delicious neon and chrome sundae. Both vocals and guitars deserve special mention. The singer has great pipes and tons of feeling while the guitarist loves toseason his riffs with all kinds of little twirls and licks which give the tunes some legs. The keyboards are there, but not nearly as annoyingly dominant as, for example, on Europe's mid-80s output.
The album has hooks for days, a nice, fat mix and won't overstay its welcome at around 40 minutes of run time. Highly recommended!
Haulover
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My pleasure.
I've met Edlund once after a gig in Frankfurt and, in stark contrast to, for example, Christofer Johnsson of Therion, he came across as wanting to be anywhere else. My girlfriend and I spent a fantastic after-show hour with the Therion lads (shortly after "Theli" released) and Christofer was a very soft-spoken, yet hilarious guy.
Absolutely! Draconian have yet to release a bad album. They tend to go for the slow, doom metal approach. They changed their female singer two albums ago and personally, I prefer the old one, although the new one isn't bad by any means - she just sounds incredibly similar to a young Sharon Den Adel of Within Temptation while the old one had a clear, beautiful voice without any operatic yodeling which I found very pleasant on the ears.
TSOTB's first album was fantastic, afterwards they tried to break free of the "Beauty & the Beast" mold by going much harsher than for example Theatre Of Tragedy, but they lost a bit of their charm in doing so. They have just two albums and a live record to their name before disappearing from the scene.
Siebenbürgen's first three albums are something special. They approached the "Beauty & the Beast" genre from another angle, which in their case was black metal - extremely fast, frantic guitars, hoarse barking instead of cookie monster growls and a distinctly lo-fi mix - but it worked. Afterwards, they aimed more towards the gothic metal mainstream by toning down the frenzy and completely losing their special charm. Still, their first three are a solid must-hear.
Sirenia was founded by Morten Veland, a former Tristania member and he picked up where his old band left off before "World Of Glass". The first two Sirenia albums sound a lot like Tristania (add the Mortemia album to that, because that's basically Sirenia with choirs instead of female vocals) while his later output tends towards the Nightwish side of Symphonic Metal. Quality varies (The first two are freaking awesome, then there's a dip while he's searching for a new direction, then it has an upswing, with the last two being pretty amazing again)
Since you're on a "T" kick, you might want to give Trail Of Tears a spin. Early on, they were a rather okay "me too" death metal with female voices act before going completely nuts, changing up their style pretty much every record after "Disclosure in Red". Not too familiar with their whole work, but I thought I'd mention them.
Extra mentions: Battlelore (more Symphonic than goth/death with female voices), The Foreshadowing (no female voices, but imagine Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode helming a Doom Metal band!) and of course the grand-daddies of everything gothic and furious, Cradle Of Filth. Their musical arc has everything from '90s thrash metal to blast beats and operatic vocals, sometimes all in one track. I love them to bits.
Dan is a total workaholic, so it only makes sense not everything clicks. I'll strongly recommend both Witherscape albums (Opeth, but less challenging) and everything Nightingale (basically powerful hard rock featuring his wonderful clear voice). Another bonus mention: Tarot, the former band of Marko Hietala (former nightwish bassist). If you can stand his ...nordic vocals, this might be fun to listen to.
Thanks again!
I've taken notes, and obviously have a lot of research ahead of me!
Haulover
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I need to get this!
litfan10
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I feel it's the strongest of their three albums.
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