Band:	Sopor Aeternus And The Ensemble Of Shadows
Album:	Dead Lovers' Sarabande - Face 2
Style:	Neoclassical, Folk metal, Gothic rock
Release date:	September 1999

01. Abschied
02. The Dog Burial
03. The House Is Empty Now
04. No-One Is There
05. Procession/Funeral March
06. Va(r)nitas Vanitas? (?Omnia Vanitas)
07. The Hourglass
08. Transfiguration
09. Has He Come To Test Me?
10. If Loneliness Was All
11. Daffodils

Every release of Anna Varney seems like a bleeding wound that is not willing to close, like a raging storm that is not willing to cease, like a deep wound that is not willing to stop overrunning your mind? Through her compositions she's trying to ease the pain that makes her body and soul ache, she's tying to get out, at least for a while, from this bottomless ocean of hopelessness and sorrow. She pours her soul, she introduces in front of your very eyes the living nightmare that haunts not only her dreams, but also the moments when she's not in the arms of Morpheus?

Whilst listening to "Dead Lover's Sarabande (Face Two)", the listener is confronted with an entity of a convicted soul who is suffering eternally, an entity who is waiting for death to release her from this martyrdom named life? Painful melodies, orchestrations which captivate you in a bed of pain awaiting death to free you, poetic verses emotionally fortified exposing the psychologically destroyed world of a creature condemned to suffer everlasting sorrow. A soul condemned to carry each day its own burden cross but without being crucified so as to find redemption in death.

The mournful sound of the violin slowly cuts into you with rose-leafs, the double-bass, the trombone and the trumpet create an imposing tone which affects the world of shadows, Anna Varney's cloister and home. The oboe, the tuba, the cello and the English corn fill the bleak soundscape giving life to this hell Anna Varney is in? The tragedy comes to a tearful climax when Anna Varney's voice echoes, an eerie almost-crying trembling voice giving meaning to every single word, expressing everything she says in an intense dramatic way transporting you as the album progresses to her world, a world so dark, where hope has deceased, where you are all alone with memories of your departed loved ones being your only company.

The album is made-up of unique pieces and each one wins you over with its own way. "No-on is There", this superb theatrical recital with such poetic verses performed with an acoustic guitar creates a nervous peacefulness. "Procession/Funeral March" has a deep mournful pompous character which reminds of a funeral procession leading you to your final resting place?

The imaginary hell of "Abschied" and "Va(r)nitas Vanitas? (?omnia vanitas)" with the painful melodies that accompany the crying trembling voice of Anna Varney. The illusionary atmosphere of "Transfiguration" transports you to a futile world where all that can do is? love the dead? "Nothing in this world can be as immaculate and pure as the love, of us Cold Ones, for the dead", "our love knows neither kiss nor touch , we are embracing dust, air or ourselves".

"The Dog Burial", "The House is Empty Now", "The Hourglass", "Has he Come to Test Me?" and "Daffodils", instrumental compositions, without lyrics yet they have so much to say with their imposing but at the same time mourning orchestration. Finally, the 9-minute opus "If Loneliness was All" captivates you and spellbound you with its changes, both musically and expressively. It takes you to a sober place where hope, compassion and love once existed, yet now have disappeared forever?

After having listened to this album and having experienced hell, the listener feels an inner catharsis, a spiritual peacefulness. However, we cannot imply the same thing for such a mysterious persona as Anna Varney?