From the first second I put this record into my audio-player I got blown away. The first song, ‘Deceptive Mirrors’, contains some of the most original melodies I have heard. Other songs like ‘My Comfort’, ‘Decadence Becomes Me’ and ‘As it Penetrates’ contain these catchy, yet very nice and fluent melodies. But still the main aspect of this band is the alternation between the heavy grunts and clean vocals of respectively Thorsen and Kjetil Nordhus. These are perfectly combined with the melodies which add a great feeling to these songs.

Speaking about feeling, although some parts sound “catchy”, there still is this very dark and gothic sphere all over the record. Another thing that definitely caught my attention was the female vocals performed by the French soprano Emmanuelle Zoldan. Although not represented on every song, to me her voice is the element that perfections the album with its dark atmosphere. Another great thing of this record is the originality. As mentioned before some melodies are very original, but also every song has its own emotions! It’s also very nice to hear a ballad on this record. I must admit it, some Gothic bands tend to bore me after a while but from Existentia I can’t get enough of!

 

I think it’s already a great thing that this album actually found its way to the stores, but it would even be better if these great songs could be played in front of a crowd, cause that is, without a doubt, what they deserve. So let’s all hope the best for Ronny Thorsen and what remains of Trail Of Tears. May they once have again what they have deserved with bringing us this record!