Upon hearing this band for the first time with its second album, Beyond The Veil, I was completely blown away in every possible way that you can be blown away by an album. Familiar with the band name from various Napalm Records advertisements and mail order catalogs, I had not really knew much at all about these Norwegians, picking up this album based purely on the provocative beauty of the cover artwork (and not because it features naked females) and the intriguing songtitles. I was completely unprepared and taken by pleasant surprise within the first minute of this album, the music nearly reaching through the speakers into my body and taking firm grasp of my soul, causing me to sit, hypnotized, by the magnificent grandeur it possessed.

First song, "Beyond The Veil" is the perfect choice for album opener as it represents every aspect of Tristania's vast sound, which ranges from beautiful choral arrangements to grand Gothic tragedy to bombastic Black Metal aggressiveness. Vocalist/Guitarist Morten Veland possesses a very powerful voice which dwells in-between Death and Black vox most often leaning towards the Black. His vocals are extremely potent and performed with an overwhelming array of emotions, offset by the equally impressive talents of session clean vocalist Osten Bergoy and female vocalist Vibeke Stene, whose delicate yet convincing voice is usually accompanied by an ocean of choirs to create a theatrical element to these vast compositions. The sound on this album is huge, with all instruments shining clearly through, especially the drums which sound an awful lot like electronic drum pads were used for this recording, though this is not indicated in the linear notes. The dominant sound here is Gothic/Symphonic Metal bringing to mind early Theatre Of Tragedy merged with the Symphonic Black Metal elements of Dimmu Borgir, but instead of writing their own versions of those bands songs, Tristania take their influences and create something truly unique. There is a lot on offer here with each song playing the role of a mini epic, with highlights being the aforementioned title track, the beautiful clean vocal arrangements of "A Sequel Of Decay", the powerful mid section of "Opus Relinque" and personal favorite "Heretique", which features extremely powerful clean vocals by session member Jan Kenneth Barkved, reminding me of Garm's heroic clean singing on Borknagar's The Olden Domain. "Simbelmyne" is a short piano instrumental that sets the stage for the epic"Angina" led by Veland's amazingly powerful vocals."Dementia" ends the album with a glorious yet sinister epic atmosphere, bringing the awesome Summoning to mind.

With the focus in Norway being on the morphing of the infamous Black Metal scene into the realms of Industrial and Techno territories, there is a very healthy Symphonic Metal scene emerging from this region as well, which seems to be centered on combining the early efforts of Paradise Lost and Norway's own Theatre Of Tragedy with the more symphonic elements of Cradle Of Filth and fellow countrymen Dimmu Borgir. With other acts such as Trail Of Tears and The Sins Of Thy Beloved releasing impressive albums recently, it seems there is another Metal resurgence on the horizon in Norway, headed by a new generation of musicians with a flair for the dramatic and an obsession with dark romanticism befalling to sorrowful tragedy. Don't put too much emphasis on the comparisons to other bands above, as Beyond The Veil is such a vast album that there is surely something for everyone contained within and Tristania is definitely a band you will be hearing more about in the very near future. If you are searching for the next magnificent Gothic/Symphonic Metal masterpiece, your search has just ended.

This review is credited to:
palewake