Band:	Lacrimas Profundere
Album:	Songs For The Last View
Style:	Gothic metal, Gothic rock
Release date:	June 25, 2008
A review by:	Jeff

Disc I [CD]
01. The Last View
02. A Pearl
03. The Shadow I Once Kissed
04. Veins
05. We Shouldn't Be Here
06. And God's Ocean
07. Suicide Sun
08. Dear Amy
09. A Dead Man
10. Sacrificial Lamb
11. Lullaby For A Weeping Girl
12. While
13. Burn [digipack bonus]
14. The Beauty Of Who You Are [digipack bonus]
15. The Shadow I Once Kissed [second version] [digipack bonus]
16. Sweet Letter C [digipack bonus]

Disc II [limited edition DVD]
01. "A Pearl" [video]
02. Making Of "A Pearl"
03. Tour Movie
04. Live Footage
05. Intro
06. My Velvet Little Darkness
07. Again It's Over
08. Sweet Caroline
09. Amber Girl
10. My Mescaline
11. For Bad Times
12. Should
13. To Love Here On Knees
14. Sarah Lou
15. One Hopes Evening Music
16. Ave End

If you want to give the name of a real polemical band, Lacrimas Profundere will probably be a good choice. Worshiped by the metalhead community for two of its releases, "Memorandum" and "Burning: A Wish", the band is not so popular anymore. The problem comes from a radical musical change since that the German musicians have decided to plays Gothic Rock a la Sister Of Mercy. Sure I cannot say that it's the worst music ever released, some of the new songs are still good in my opinion but of course this is really disturbing and if some bands like Moonspell or Paradise Lost have understood that it was maybe a good idea to come back to their Metal roots, this is not the case of Lacrimas Profundere. If you hate the "new" Lacrimas Profundere, "Songs For The Last View" will not be for you?

If you're an old fan of the combo, don't expect any good surprises here. Lacrimas Profundere is still trapped under its new Gothic Rock label. Of course this is just a matter of taste and I cannot say that "Songs For The Last View" is a terrible release especially if you like Gothic Rock music. I like Sister Of Mercy and despite the fact that Lacrimas Profundere is a bit too much inspired by this combo, their new music is not so displeasing but this is not Metal anymore. I don't know if they have more fans now, probably a lot who come from a mainstream audience, but it's just logical that the old fans hate the music now. This is simply too Pop and unfortunately dull to be really convincing. Some songs like "Dear Amy" are potential hits though, even if of course this is not something that you can compare to the old version of the combo but on the other hand, "Songs For The Last View" is full of mellow craps like "A Dead Man" (a terrible melancholic ballad who can only be interesting for emo kids who think that they're soooo Goth). All in all the combo can be ok for people who are a bit open minded and like 80's dark Rock bands but if you're looking for true Gothic Metal just go away, this is not for you.

I really regret that Lacrimas Profundere surfs on a trend. I have no doubt that the guys wanted to do such kind of music one day, after all this is also one of the main influences of the Gothic Metal scene but I don't know, I don't have the feeling that it's so true and maybe that the band still have a lot of fans in Germany but I can tell you that a lot of metalheads have stopped to buy their albums since a lot of time now. This is sad really because when I listen to the last album I have the feeling that the guys are better than ever, but unfortunately the music doesn't follow them?

What can I add now? "Songs For The Last View" will probably be a good album for all the new fans of the band. Not so different than the last previous releases, this new album is a good release of Gothic Rock but nothing more. Metalheads can only be disappointed, but who know maybe that one day Lacrimas Profundere will come back to a real Gothic Metal. Paradise Lost and Moonspell did it and they're back to the top of the popularity so why not Lacrimas Profundere in the future? Time will tell!