No topic for Galadriel, but it would be pointless as there aren't too much fans around.

There's something about them I dislike... The whole atmpsphere of the music is razor-killing and that sucks big time..
I'm not growl hater, but I really like the growls in Tristania... Vibeke is ok, but nothing special, her voice is just too pale.. but I must say I like the way she sang "Beyond the veil" and "Libre"

Enough of me!

Well im sad to say that i must assume Tristania is out of my life nowadays, after hearing their new album, wich is worse that Ashes.
This new material is so soft & mellow, no more grunts or any symptom of rage .... all too easy to digest that i feel lost listening to it, Vibekes voice is good if you ar elooking for a Lacuna coil thing, but this aint symphonice gothic metal. Reminds me of TOT way, they are changing to a more electronic kind of romantic music, nothing to do to their old albums ... id stick with Sirenia or even the new album from Trail Of Tears wich ROCKS !!! Ronnie is back again, with that spirit ....

I suppose fans of ashes are more able to like this "Illumination" (why they had to choose that word) album from Vibeke and company thatn Beyond the Veil or World of glass ones .... gl out there and bye for Tristania, pity

@ Vicsor: I have the same perception. It's like Tristania's losing that characteristic "dark" atmosphere Still, the album is ok but not the band's best.

I hear what you 2 are saying but am still not losing hope. I really enjoyed Ashes, but in a different way than the others. I'm a HUGE fan of the "old" material but respect the beauty of Ashes as well. I love to see a band evolve and experiment (even if it's a big change) but I hate to see them loose their passion and take the easy road to fame/ follow trends. I hope that has not happened

@ Lyrinan: I also love when bands evolve but in a good way, for example After Forever. In the case of Tristania, it was obvious that they would change after Morten's departure, but every album they have done is less brilliant than the others.

Well, I gotta say Illumionation is definately a step forward from Ashes, even though I listened to it for merely 3 times now. What is lacks definately are the growls and of course, they kept they're stlye of Ashes with no orchestral parts and choirs. Vibeke's vox is more emphasised than on Ashes, that's a plus and Illumination has some outsanding songs, then some others so far seem like fillers to me, But I guess I need to hear the album some more to give a more objective critic. Well, at least I didn't have a heart attck as I asumed and I wasn't expecting much as I did for Ashes, so I'm not really surprised over their work.

I really am enjoying this new CD. It's very somber, which is perfect music for this time of year for me at least. I thought the loss of extreme vocals would take away an element, but instead it's allowed the band to focus on a part of their sound they'd traditionally only given 1/3 of their attention to structurally. The track "Deadlands" is beautiful sadness, I can't get over the somber melodies of this song!

This CD is in one way less diverse, but in another way, more focused on a developing a certain sound throughout. "Ashes" at times is very diverse, with large transitions from track to track; this CD is much more subtle, and is certainly not as tense. It took me about 3 listens to really feel the emotion, but I'm all for it now. Can't wait to buy the limited edition version next year

Someone help me out... where are you all finding this new album?

You have torrents on http://www.mininova.org Enjoy!

anyone to give me a link to download Illumination ??

Written by VaronoZz on 18.12.2006 at 17:06

anyone to give me a link to download Illumination ??

Check one post above you.

You have torrents on mininova.org and torrentspy.com.

Written by AnGina-- on 19.12.2006 at 14:31

Written by VaronoZz on 18.12.2006 at 17:06

anyone to give me a link to download Illumination ??

Check one post above you.

You have torrents on mininova.org and torrentspy.com.

thanks a lot, but i have already download it from rapidshare..

The new album is really a good one. There are some songs that remind me of their music on first 2 albums, like "Sanguine Sky" or "Deadlands". Another song that impresses me is "Destination Departure" (the electric drums sound weird, but it's really good)

Illumination SUCKS, nothing in this album have to do with Tristania. Tristania's last album is Ashes for me...

Damn, Illumination isn't as bad as Ashes. At least I didn't think so. Bit more lively but I don't really take well to the whole Vibeke-centred, toned down approach of Tristania these days. Long gone are the true gothic metal days of Widows Weeds. They're trying to make the sound more commercial now and taking it in a somwhat poppier direction (even though there was nothing poppy about Tristania originally unlike other apparent 'gothic metal' bands).

Still, Illuminations is better than the new song Sirenia put out. Lol, that's a joke!

Love the new album. It's catchy, it's melodic, it's dark and, above all, it's gothic. The growls are not missed (they were beautiful until the "World of Glass" album, but in "Ashes" they were somewhat irritating), there are some fantastic tunes and, overall, it's a more diverse album than "Ashes" was. Is it more commercial? Absolutely yes, but I don't care since the music is absolutely gorgeous. One of the best albums of the year, I'm sure. Much better than the new Sirenia opus, which is an enormous pile of boring and uninteresting shit.

Written by Daru Jericho on 09.01.2007 at 20:02

Still, Illuminations is better than the new song Sirenia put out. Lol, that's a joke!

But that's true. Anyway, I agree with most of your post, Tristania is getting "poppier", I don't know if it's because of a whole Vibeke centred album, but they have still good sound.

Written by VaronoZz on 08.01.2007 at 00:32

Illumination SUCKS, nothing in this album have to do with Tristania. Tristania's last album is Ashes for me...

I have to say that I disagree here... why does this CD have nothing to do with Tristania? I do hope that you feel it's okay for a band to evolve over time, yes? I would rather have 5 inconsistent albums than 5 CDs that all sound like clones of each other...

It's perfectly okay to hate a band's new sound of course But they are still playing gothic metal; this is not a commercial oriented album by any means, but one more approaching the type of gothic metal that Theatre Of Tragedy once created on Aegis (though obviously dissimilar).

They're just about playing gothic metal! It seems to get progressively less gothic over each release, with Widow's Weeds certainly being the strongest gothic metal album. I'd say it is one of the best albums in the genre.

Having first Illumination listen atm, almost done. So far there's not a song on here that i dont like. Its different than Ashes, totally different atmosphere, more straight forward. I really like the new sound. I'll buy this album asap when it comes out

Written by Jason W. on 10.01.2007 at 03:56

Written by VaronoZz on 08.01.2007 at 00:32

Illumination SUCKS, nothing in this album have to do with Tristania. Tristania's last album is Ashes for me...

I have to say that I disagree here... why does this CD have nothing to do with Tristania? I do hope that you feel it's okay for a band to evolve over time, yes? I would rather have 5 inconsistent albums than 5 CDs that all sound like clones of each other...

It's perfectly okay to hate a band's new sound of course But they are still playing gothic metal; this is not a commercial oriented album by any means, but one more approaching the type of gothic metal that Theatre Of Tragedy once created on Aegis (though obviously dissimilar).

I respect your opinions, but for me this album is more approachable to some mainstream bands who likes having the title of gothic band. The sound is more progressive, growls are very limited and Vibeke Stanne do not use operatic vocals and Of course u cannot compare Aegis with this album. The very only track i liked from this album is Mercyside..

Written by Daru Jericho on 12.01.2007 at 00:13

They're just about playing gothic metal! It seems to get progressively less gothic over each release, with Widow's Weeds certainly being the strongest gothic metal album. I'd say it is one of the best albums in the genre.

I would say that they're aren't "doom" or "melo doom" anymore, because Tristania was one of the first bands to do more a gothic/doom work than just gothic.

Written by Bitch Boy on 12.01.2007 at 22:42

Written by Daru Jericho on 12.01.2007 at 00:13

They're just about playing gothic metal! It seems to get progressively less gothic over each release, with Widow's Weeds certainly being the strongest gothic metal album. I'd say it is one of the best albums in the genre.

I would say that they're aren't "doom" or "melo doom" anymore, because Tristania was one of the first bands to do more a gothic/doom work than just gothic.

Indeed. I'd like to think that the proper gothic metal, such early Theatre Of Tragedy, The Sins Of Thy Beloved etc has a doom metal influence. Widow's Weeds is such an important album for this type of gothic metal.

@ Daru Jericho: you're right, but Ashes and Illumination are way too further from Widow's Weeds. The same happened with Sirenia and, a long time ago, with Theatre of Tragedy. The Sins of thy Beloved are still in their eternal "on hold", so this means that this sub-genre is losing strength.

Sadly, i think I have to join you all that don't like Illumination. I think this album is dull compared to their previous albums, it didn't exactly move you. On the other hand, 'Mercyside' and 'Down' were to very good songs. I remembered that I hated Ashes for a long time, the I suddenly begun to listen more to it. It took quite some time(and listenings), but suddenly I realized just how good this albuim really was! Now I consider it as one of their best albums they have realised. Perhaps it will be that case with Illumination too?

oh for Pete's sake... just because there are no more growls or choirs or Vibeke singing operetically doesn't mean Illumination is not gothic. hell no! gothic metal is not about growls or choirs, it's about hearing some influence from the gothic scene. am i the only one to have noticed the strooong goth rock feel in Mercyside? hell, the goth rock feel is in the whole album. sure it's more commercial and there's a lot of Vibeke's vocals but does that make it a poor album? of course not! am i the only one to notice the way Vibeke and Osten are trying out new singing styles? that's what makes the vocals special on this album! they're always different, always suiting for the atmosphere of the songs. i just can't understand people who are soo bugged by the commercial aspect. just because it appeals to larger public doesn't mean it must absolutely not appeal to them. screw the "all commercial music is crap" rule. if the music is good and if you enjoy it than don't be stopped by anything to listen to it! that's how i found so many amazing bands that i never gave a chance to because of that stupid rule.

now back to Tristania. please, please, please stop praising so much WW and BTV! we know they're the best, heck BTV is my favourite album too, but if your ears are only concentrated on them than you'll never get to enjoy Tristania's new material! leave the past behind and concentrate on the present. Illumination has great potential and i'm sure that if you'll give it a couple of more spins you'll learn to love it.

@Zeraphine

Thanks for bringing up what it seems few people in this thread are interested in hearing! As I'd mentioned before, this is gothic metal, no doubt about it, and you are right, it has plenty of gothic rock in it as well!

I've yet to see what the issue is about having a Vibeke dominated album, because, if she is supposed to be such a renowned vocalist, shouldn't she get her chance to really show her abilities? Some may think that putting her on the front of the CD cover is a marketing approach, however, in terms of the band's transition, I think it's the right thing to do here... She's up front more than ever, and brings us so many more levels deeper into her vocal abilities. Østen now feels like the ideal companion for her, and I am more than pleased to hear a gothic metal album that relies on a clean male vocalist instead of the tried and true formula of beauty/beast. Tristania's done, they've mastered it, so why not try something new? Each CD they've done has been a transition to something unexplored for them musically, and I would not have it any other way!

"Ashes" was a bit of a shock to my system upon first listen, but grew on me when I convinced myself that yes, it IS a great record, and that I just wasn't prepared for it, and needed to look for it. (Which I found). "Illumination" was a hit for me on the first listen. "Sanguine Sky" is an eerie and beautiful display of melody, and Vibeke's opening verse just cuts right through me. The guitarwork on "The Ravens" and "Lotus" is simple yet the tone and notes match seemlessly with Vibeke and Østen's vocal work - the true sign of a band playing and writing together, not just noodling away hoping it all sounds great in the mixing room. This CD is so much more consistent than their past two works it even amazes me, I wasn't sure if they'd hit that level again, but I feel they have here. Sure, if you can't handle gothic metal without extreme vocals, than this is not for you anymore. But to me the greatest bands expand their own sound and are never content to stay the same, and that's what Tristania has done here. It's by far the CD I've listened to the most for the 2007 releases.

I absolutely agree with Zeraphine and dismaleuphony.
I love "Illumination". The gothic rock influence is absolutely gorgeous, there are a lot (and I mean a lot) of killer melodies, the two vocalists sound extremelly well together... One of the best albums of 2007, and for me one of my favourite albums of the genre.

I just bought the new one and i have to admit that it is a very good album...
But i will always love more than any other disc"Widow's Weeds"for which if i start to write it will take aeons to stop...it is my favourite album..