I was quite looking forward to this CD since Morgain plays a kind of music I'm not too familiar with. The band plays a mix of doom and gothic metal, and also incorporates folk influences. After some research, I found the term "hypnotic doom". This should be interesting.

Morgain writes songs with a "darker" atmosphere to them, but with a lot of melodic parts and quite a lot of different instruments. It certainly has a doom and/or gothic feel to it, but basically most of the songs utilise familiar pop-like structures. Personal favorites would be [i]So Lonely[/i] and [i]Last Breath[/i], two songs with a good melodic hook.

I do have to say that I really miss a real drummer on the record. The programmed drums sound fine but it automatically gives the music a certain sound which I considered to conflict with the more natural sounding instruments. It made it sound to.."Sleek". The male and female vocals sound nice together, but I think they could be a bit louder in the mix. The guitar sound is a bit overpowering.

In the end, I have to say im slightly dissapointed. Im not familiar with Morgain's older work but this CD just sounds a bit "dead", as in lifeless. Songs tend to sound a bit similar, which is a shame because the [i]quality[/i] of the music itself is a testament to the fact that the musicians themselves are very proficient at this style. Somehow I kept hoping for just a tad more diversity, which might bring that little bit of energy that this album needed.

Tracklist:
1 - ...And Reality Hurts
2 - Following the Sun
3 - So Lonely
4 - World is Buried
5 - Dying
6 - Last Breath
7 - Vampirian Blues
8 - The Seducer