Polish band Mothernight makes their album debut with this self-titled release. The band started out back in 2000 as a two-man project of guitarist Deimos and bassist/producer Gabriel, as they couldn’t find interested partners for their ideas of mixing metal with gothic and wave. Late in 2003 drummer Berith joined the band, and the line-up was completed in 2004 with female vocalist Freya through an ad on the internet.

Knowing a little about the “local” polish rock-scene of the 90s, it seems to me, that Mothernight is pulling from the better end of this, sounding a bit like o.n.a. (if anyone reading this page should be familiar with that – it’s recommendable by the way, even though it’s in polish), especially in the vocal parts. Of more well-known bands to a wider public, something like Lacuna Coil comes to mind.

That the producer of the album is the bassist, is obvious through the bass being mixed more into the foreground than usually, and often even playing melody lines. That makes the general impression of the music darker and more ”real gothic”, than many other bands with the “gothic” label.

In other words what we are dealing with here is slow (sometimes even dragging) heavy metal/rock with influences from gothic, and with a bit industrial sound (mostly in the rhythm-section) and some wave (in the keyboards) added.

The best experiences with this band is for me clearly the really strong female voice, who sounds a bit darker and raw (male like) than most female singers (has a lot of potential); and then the general mood/atmosphere of the album.

On the down side there’s the (too) little difference in the tempo of the numbers (partly except track 8 and 9, that goes just a little faster than the rest), it can get a bit weary in the long run, and then the to me completely un-understandable cover version (BONUStrack) of the boring pop-“hit” “Hello – Turn your Radio on” by Shakespeares Sister, AND the more than 15 minutes break (!!!!) leading up to it – what’s the f ^{x x} king point?!!

Recommended tracks: “Another Chance?”, “Shadowsblack”, “Waiting to Die” and the instrumental “The Dawn”