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Theatre Of Tragedy - Forever Is The World review



Reviewer:
7.9

131 users:
7.46
Band: Theatre Of Tragedy
Album: Forever Is The World
Release date: September 2009


01. Hide And Seek
02. A Nine Days Wonder
03. Revolution
04. Transition
05. Hollow
06. Astray
07. Frozen
08. Empty [bonus]
09. Illusions
10. Deadland
11. Forever Is The World
12. The Breaking [vinyl bonus]

Theatre Of Tragedy is a truly good band. I am not just saying this because I respect their work a lot but also because they have had a versatile career and they seem to have been remaining faithful to their ideas no matter what may be said about them.
My expectations concerning the new album Forever Is The World were high ever since I heard the samples and, gladly enough, the album did prove to be a strong one.

The musical evolution of the band has resulted in melodic and poetic albums that belong to the absolute classic treasury of gothic music as well as both darker and lighter electronic dance music, professionally mastered and performed even though controversial for many. The previous release Storm could be considered as a possible return to the gothic style from the industrial side and Forever Is The World has now confirmed it.

The opening track for the album is also one of the best songs on it. "Hide And Seek" displays the key elements of the band's style, the piano, the dark atmosphere and the play between the rough male vocals and clear female singing. It is extremely positive to hear Raymond using his Aegis-era vocals again instead of the somewhat obnoxious nasal technique he discovered on Musique and Assembly. The crew made a good decision by taking Nell Sigland as a replacement for Liv Kristine. Although Nell's voice is a bit colder and sharper, her timbre and style are, nevertheless, similar to Liv Kristine's. Forever Is The World is generally well composed and Nell sings very well. Her not-lyrical singing suits the music perfectly. Any kind of operatic or similar singing in the new album's case would be straining too much.

The instrumental field of the album is strong as I already said in the previous passage. It is wonderful that the piano has returned, the warm, mild and water-colour-like piano passages have always adorned the band's music and made it so special. There are some bleak guitar riffs typical to gothic style and, on the other hand, the synthesizer has a larger role than on the old albums which bore a more acoustic touch. The best, lengthiest and also the core track of the album, "Hollow" possesses all the best characteristics of both the band's average work and of the album. When I was listening to this I had a similar impression as when listening to Fields Of The Nephilim. Besides "Hollow" the best songs that represent this album are "Transition" and "Deadland" among others.

This album is a nice treat and surprise for all fans of Theatre Of Tragedy and for everyone who appreciate some good gothic music. This time the beloved band of the genre has paved a way towards a traditional, yet bit more contemporary way of interpreting the style. And of course, the band does all of it in their own special way of creating music.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 9
Songwriting: 7
Originality: 8
Production: 9

Written by Ernis | 10.10.2009




Comments

Comments: 11   Visited by: 136 users
11.10.2009 - 16:26
AnGina--
Dark Phoenix
I agree with the rating, I've given it an 8 (and we all know how the program calculates it here.... ).

Overall, I couldn't get my ears of Forever Is The World and also didn't have any high hopes till the first samples of songs came out - hearing Hide And Seek really set my hopes high and the album didn't let me down. I love it more with every listen, not because it's a TOT album, but because it's a good album.

As for the review, I think more than just ''Hide And Seek'' and ''Hollow'' are worth mentioning. Forever Is The World is one of the best tracks on the album, in my opinion of course, Illusions is the one that reminds me of the golden era of Aegis the most and of cours I share great symphathies towards it, along with Frozen. A Nine Days Wonder again is the song that I disliked the most at the beginning, but has grown on me, especially for the chorus.

Raymond is great, but TBH, his growls are a bit higher and not as rough as they were in the begining of TOT. Lyrics are something worth mentioning as well, again one great step forward from the messy-a-modern-man-in-a-amodern-technological-world they went with on Musique/Assemly. Again, I'd like to point out Forever Is The World, it has beautiful and meaningful lyrics.

Agreeing on Nell as well, she's a perfect replacement for Liv Kristine and has all the right to be the queen of half of the album, singing the songs without Raymon'd opposement. She can bring that special feeling to every song, that makes it mesmerizing.
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You think darkness is your ally? You merely adopted the dark. I was born in it. Molded by it. I didn't see the light until I was a man. But it was nothing to me but blinding.
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12.10.2009 - 08:29
Rating: 8
Jason W.
Razorbliss
Seems we are in a agreement as well on the rating on the album it's a really good one, and yes it's got some of the beautiful moments that made the band a favorite of mine in the late 90s when I first dived into the European metal scene And it's excellent to see some worthwhile lyrics again... the opening track and "Deadland" so far are my favorites. One important thing about this album as well is that it shows that Nell is a great singer, and I hope the band continues to develop their style with her even more in this direction for the future albums!
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"After silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." - Aldous Huxley
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12.10.2009 - 17:04
X-Ray Rod
Skandino
Quote:
Nell's voice is a bit colder and sharper


Aye... I also felt her voice colder, but at the same time it felt so nice, like the wind from late autumn.

Anyway, I haven't listened to all the album so I need to buy this one. Great review!
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Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29
Like you could kiss my ass
Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
Rod, let me love you.
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12.10.2009 - 20:56
Ernis
狼獾
Ok...now that I think more thoroughly and listen to it more often...I lifted the rating a bit : )

And yes, Angina....there are lots of nice moments on this album...I also felt the Aegis atmosphere in some places...I also like Transition among the songs....
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14.10.2009 - 20:29
Rating: 8
Ag Fox
Angel No More
I never pre-heard any material or singles before hearing the whole album, but Hide and Seek's quality stands out quite far.
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loves 小巫
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21.10.2009 - 15:46
PrincipleOfEVIL

Returning to the roots? Maybe. This is still far away from the GREAT GOTHIC metal from their first albums. It sounds like any generic gothic band. That's all. It's good they have tried, but it's not enough. Overall, this is utterly forgettable. Waiting for the next, becoz, now that they have released this, all hope is not dead. Meanwhile, I will listen to some other bands wh do real gothic metal.
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Panta Rei
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08.12.2009 - 19:39
Rating: 9
Elodie Artour
Slania
I've got that album and I find it a perfect mixture of two ToT albums which I actually adore: "Aegis" and "Storm" . It's good to know that the band has tried to make its music sound like during their golden period. I do like the direction this band has taken and I truly hope they're gonna continue this way (and even improve their music) .I enjoy most of the songs on the CD. To me, the best tracks on it are probably "Hide And Seek" and "Hollow" .

Congrats to Viggo - his review is probably the best one about "Forever Is The World" that I would have ever read!
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Speak up dear 'cause I cannot hear you...
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08.12.2009 - 21:39
Ernis
狼獾
Written by Elodie Artour on 08.12.2009 at 19:39

I've got that album and I find it a perfect mixture of two ToT albums which I actually adore: "Aegis" and "Storm" . It's good to know that the band has tried to make its music sound like during their golden period. I do like the direction this band has taken and I truly hope they're gonna continue this way (and even improve their music) .I enjoy most of the songs on the CD. To me, the best tracks on it are probably "Hide And Seek" and "Hollow" .

Congrats to Viggo - his review is probably the best one about "Forever Is The World" that I would have ever read!

Thanks a lot...but it's a good album...deserves good words too : )
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04.01.2010 - 21:31
Uirapuru
Liver Failure
Damn. I was expecting the continuation of their most Industrial side. Too much gothic in this one. The female vocals are beautiful, the male I prefer to ignore, since the best songs presents a largely superior participation of Nell's voice (in ''Illusion'' her voice sounds EXCTLY like Liv's o.O)

But it is a good album still.
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member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
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17.01.2010 - 19:40
treptolemus
aphotic_zoning
I've listened the songs - i cannot say that it something special. The lyrics are a little bit "dry" in my opinion (& too generic and abstract which is not bad but...) usually i like the lyrics from gothic bands but that was not the case here. The music has a lower profile (ok maybe that's probably from the keyboard melodies), i think the band bets on the vocalist and the live appearances-more focus to that i guess...

But as always, bravo go to all the band members (they express their feelings with music after all)
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\m/etalstor\m/
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19.02.2010 - 01:41
Rating: 7
Morphis

My expectations for this album were very low so it was not hard to beat them.

I agree with the review in some points, Raymond dont sing mutch in this album but at least when he does he put out his best voice.
The instrumental field are far better than the last crap albuns, but still fails to create a deep gothic atmosphere.

In the end i agree more with treptolemus and with PrincipleOfEVIL:
Written by PrincipleOfEVIL on 21.10.2009 at 15:46

This is still far away from the GREAT GOTHIC metal from their first albums. It sounds like any generic gothic band.
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