Closterkeller is a Polish band that is well known in the underground scene of Gothic Rock and New Wave. The band depends a lot on their vocalist Anja Orthodox, who lays a spell on the listeners with her marvellous voice. Graphite is the English version of the version that was released in 1999, which was sang in Polish. It�s the 11th album Closterkeller have produced and it sounds that they aren�t planning to quit on a short notice. The album starts out with Athe, a nice song which describes the style that is heard on the album. The songs are quite short, with some exceptions. The voice of Anja sounds quite nice, but somehow it just made me laugh. She tries very hard to sing in English and it�s good that she did. It sounds a bit odd and very accented maybe even funny, just how you like. The songs all contain eerie riffs performed by guitar and keyboard. Some noticeable songs are The Pearl, The Ego Game and The Symbol Shatterer. These are the more aggressive songs on the album, in which you can speak of aggressive. The other songs are almost all ballads and its obvious Closterkeller mostly relies on the vocal performance of Anja. Well, in Polish she really sings like a goddess, but in English it sounds funny, though certainly not bad. A song like The Symbol Shatterer is a song with a heavy effect on the bass and is one of the more uptempo songs. I prefer the uptempo songs and there are some on the album. [img]http://www.metalrage.com/upload/closterkeller_logo.jpg[/img] An album, which is just a translation of the album brought out in 1999, should not be so promoted. It is good for the ones who don�t know Closterkeller yet, so they can get acquainted with the music. Based on the music this album is not bad, but when listening to the vocals it�s a real laugher. But take the fact that Anja is Polish and takes the effort to sing in English and you�ll not laugh anymore. Nice album, but it�s really an album for the people in the gothic scene. If you can appreciate New Wave and the more commercial Gothic rock you�ll certainly like it. Track List: 1: Athe 2: Somewhere Inbetween 3: The Mermaid 4: The Pearl 5: The Secret Place 6: The Ego Game 7: Eve And Adam 8: Two Days 9: Marble Enchanted 10: The Reign Of The Comet 11: The Symbol Shatterer 12: Love For Money 13: The Piano 14: Graphite Line Up: Vocals � Anja Orthodox Keyboard � Michal Rollinger Drums � Gerard Klawe Guitar � Freddy Bass - Pucek