01. Intro
02. Glory Ride
03. Death Wish
04. Touched By Evil
05. Dark Gift
06. Darkness
07. Vampire
08. Evil Things
09. Blood And Flame
10. My Torment
11. My Master My Slave
12. Outro

Though I'll admit that Gothic Metal isn't entirely my forté, I still stay on the lookout for albums that sway my opinion about the genre. This album, 'The Journal', by the Finnish band 4Order, at least keeps my interest alive. 4Order plays Gothic Metal with a line-up of two singers (one male, one female), two guitarists, a drummer and a bassist. This tends to give their music, an almost Heavy Metal like influence. You could also say that you hear some Progressive Metal elements at times as well. Though this is still Gothic Metal, it's just interesting to hear it played a little differently. The band says they draw influence from acts such as King Diamond and Queensrÿche (4Order's name even comes from the Queensrÿche album 'Rage For Order'), so their sound is by no coincidence.

The Journal, is 4Order's first album, and is to be the first part of a trilogy. It's also partly conceptual, as it tells a story about vampires and darkness. This has been done before of course, but if you're into bands such as Theatres Des Vampires, you'll lap it up. The first track 'Glory Ride' however doesn't seem to have anything to do with the concept, and it almost seems out of place. As said before, the music of this album is a kind of influenced Gothic Metal. One noteworthy thing is that there is a lack of keyboards. There are a few tracks where an organ is present, but the band has no keyboard player, so it isn't a dominant instrument. I'd say that the actual music is the standout feature of this album. Ozzie Rissanen is actually quite a good vocalist. He has a voice that would give credit even to a Power or Heavy Metal band. In fact he sounds a little bit like Niklas Isfeldt from Dream Evil. The band's other vocalist, Marie Helsingfors, sings in an operatic style. Her vocals are more of an accompaniment to the music, as Ozzie takes the lead. She adds to the Gothic Metal sound of the album, but on faster tracks such as 'Evil Things', she takes away from the music. As you've probably gathered, components such as the lyrics aren't exactly the strong point of The Journal. They serve to tell a story, but they can get a bit too generic at times. So I'll go on to describe the guitar work. Kalle Vuorinen and Pasi Juvonen don't play the most technical guitar sound you've ever heard, but it's certainly solid and heavy. Each note is prominent and strong. The bass guitar also adds a bit of background to the music.

So overall The Journal is musically a reasonable album. Previously described features as well as the often annoying spoken word pieces at the end of most songs though, tend to let it down. It would be more appreciated by fans of Gothic Metal I believe, but there is probably a bit in there for fans of other styles.

Performance:	8
Songwriting:	7
Originality:	6
Production:	8