Trail of Tears
represents the harder and heavier section of the gothic metal genre, and
'Bloodstained Endurance' is a mature and well crafted album. The beauty is
represented by Cathrine Paulsen, who returns - she did the vocals on their 2002
album 'A New Dimension of Myth' as well - and is in clear contrast to bandleader
Ronny Thorsen, who represents the beast, the dark and melancholic part of life.
The contrast between Ronny's
harsh and aggressive growling and Cathrine's high-pitched vocals works very
well, and provides the songs with a lot of diversity. Like so many other bands
they aim to find the perfect balance between gothic metal and black symphonic
metal with all the clichés that fit that bill.
'Bloodstained Endurance' is
a well produced album, produced by Terje Refsnes, an album that manages to merge
the two genres with conviction and while it did take me some time to discover
the beauty beneath the dark and gloomy surface, I did discover a very solid
piece of metal with a lot of power and energy.
Not that remote from what
their fellow countrymen in Tristania and Sirenia do, and if you don't mind the
aggressive vocals then I suggest you give this one a listen...
