I will never comprehend what turning point event has caused Tristania to change dramatically its music style and join the pool of cloned female fronted bands. The new album “Darkest White” is stripped of any gothic attitude, consistent musical direction and creative force. All that remains is your average redundant and monotonous collection of easy songs that will be forgotten tomorrow.
“Number” is a recycled memory of what Tristania used to be. The main heavy guitar riffs are a ghastly reminiscence of the iconic song “Libre”. The growls and the keyboards arrangements work nicely together but the female vocals have no place to fit in so they are somehow forced into the song’s structure. It would have been better to just keep it instrumental.
The title track is another attempt to step back in time and for this reason it is inevitably the only strong moment of the album. The old style growls are fierce and add a nice empowering energy to the catchy guitar riffs.
There is hope for a brighter future on “Himmelfall” with that lovely slightly melancholic mood filled of vintage rocking guitars. The clean vocals are soothing and spontaneously layered on softer guitar melodies. Unfortunately, the weak female vocals are thrown in suddenly and randomly resulting in the disruption of the musical flow.
“Requiem” and “Diagnosis” have no musical quality as they revolve around repetitive monotone vocals, sloppy open chords and the absolute lack of catchy harmonies. Honestly, Tristania doesn’t even seem to make a real effort to write a fancy song.
“Scarling” will be remembered for that awkward moment in which the vocal duet chorus has no reason to exist but is forced on purpose inside the song in a “cut & paste” fashion.
Disturbingly that “oh so awkward moment” happens again. Hence, what seems to be the same chorus, almost note by note, is slammed inside “Night On Earth” in a quite clumsy manner.
“Arteries” starts with a more sincere and heavier approach but again the “oh so damn awkward” chorus doesn’t fit the main music style nor the mood, so it is forcefully encased in the song structure. It feels like two completely separated songs are suddenly attached to each other without any gradual tempo or style changes.
At the end of the album a great sadness pervades my heart as I mourn the official loss of one of the most talented bands in the metal scene.