To be honest I was never really into live albums and there are only a handful of such releases in recording history that I really bother to listen to more than once. So when I say that "Triumph: Tragedy: Transcendence" really impressed me, this would probably be an understatement for other music fans.

Sure enough, the album is very well recorded and successfully conveys that palpable emotive feel typical of an engaging live performance - one that tends to be associated with the sombre but uplifting Doom of While Heaven Wept. Perfect example is 'Thus With A Kiss I Die' where I can almost see myself banging my head in front of the stage and playing air-guitar to the song’s long psychedelic bridges.

"T:T:T" contains a recording of While Heaven Wept's performance at the Hammer of Doom Festival in Germany earlier this year. The album is available in a niftily packed limited edition gatefold vinyl. (Most Doom Metal albums are also sold in vinyl format, after all.) For those who don't have turntables, on November 8^th Cruz Del Sur will be releasing a CD/DVD 2-disc version of the album.

As a footnote, While Heaven Wept has recently been doing a lot of re-releases of previous material. While this is all fine and dandy as long as the quality of material on offer is good, it would be interesting to hear something new from the band. (To be fair, while I was writing this, a little bird told me that the band is doing just that!)