Penumbra - The Last Bewitchment - review
Penumbra - The Last Bewitchment - review
Tracklist
01. Neutral02. Priestess Of My Dreams
03. The Last Bewitchment
04. Moaning On Earth
05. Insurrection
06. Testament
07. The Young Martyr
08. A Torrent Of Fears
09. Pie Jesu
A review by
Susan June 11, 2005
With the first notes we are whisked away into an urgent, compelling, dark symphony. Penumbra is layering bombastic classical music with metal, but avoids sounding like a copy of the symphonic albums from Tristania or Therion. This dark symphony is memorable as Penumbra's work. A hint of melodic black metal influences creep in early on and are well incorporated. The team of vocalists makes their debut in the brilliant opener "Neutral:" clean female and male vocals, death vocals and black vocals. I am most impressed with the use of the soprano; she is single-handedly fulfilling the role of the choir and stays mostly in the background. She teams up with the synth player to create a beautiful atmosphere that will draw you in closer. Most songs are dominated by the extreme vocals in front of her choral singing, but let's not forget the clean male vocals which add a delicate touch to each song.
The first 3 songs are each unique but still keep us connected to the central musical theme of this album. This rush continues until the 6th song "Testament" quietly breaks us out of the epic mood for a lovely little ballad. The first 2 minutes are quiet and ambient with Medusa, the female singer, serenading us. The song slowly gains momentum though to finally leave us at the same high energy level as the rest of the album. This mood flows quite well; giving us a chance to catch our breath!
The only disappointments here are the middle tracks "Moaning on Earth" and "Insurrection" which are both a bit static and not at all memorable. They do their job in keeping with the mood and atmosphere of The Last Bewitchment but don't add anything special.
While this album may need time to grow on you it is certainly special. I feel the musician's energy through my stereo, as if Penumbra is proud to share this recording with me.
Comments
Comments:
8
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Posts: 707
High quality... 10
---- give praise for the blood it bled, grant a rose for the dead...
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 Posts: 531 |
Posts: 531
good.. some songs are good, and some not a lot  still good at all.. it contains 3 killer songs 
---- I saw her standing by the crimson sea... Isolated by the silent thoughts... Her gazing was intense but so dead... The teardrops corroded the soil.. She couldn't say a word to me...
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| RazorOfTheLight
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 Posts: 3523 |
Posts: 3523
The first track on this CD, in fact the first few seconds alone, are so impressive and haunting to me that I find them creeping into my mind randomly, even after not hearing the CD for months! I think it's great to see that your thoughts here are nearly equal to mine on this subject! "Urgent" is a perfect word here I just today received my retail copy in the mail after a few years of having the MP3's, and am surprised I waited so long. This CD will stand as a "hidden gem" in my collection for years to come. So far, it's Penumbra's best work to me... While I agree in full to the spirit of your review here, I really don't find many flaws with this CD and think it's a brilliant piece of work, so I'd rate a little higher. But great review here, I hope more people get a chance to purchase this disc, it's worth it.
---- "After silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." - Aldous Huxley
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| Posts: 531 |
Posts: 531
Moaning on Earth is a really briliant song ..! I liked it really .. sad Lyrinan didn't like it .. give it a chance it's one of my top fav.s for Penumbra 
---- I saw her standing by the crimson sea... Isolated by the silent thoughts... Her gazing was intense but so dead... The teardrops corroded the soil.. She couldn't say a word to me...
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| WindMyth
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WindMyth
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This album is great, I love all the songs... one of the best gothic albums i've heard
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 Posts: 99 |
Posts: 99
This album shows that it is possible to mix electronic components with a good metal without to fall in the extremes or to be listened very popular. A defect, for moments the lyrics are not very understandable mainly in the parts with classic choir  I give it a 9.
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Posts: 38  |
Posts: 38 Written by omjaimes on 18.02.2008 at 22:42 the album "Intuispection" by Beyon-D-Lusion is another very good exemple (+ some oriental influences). Another french band with one album so far, still looking for a label for the second one I believe. http://www.myspace.com/beyondlusion ps: no, I don't belong to the band, neither am a friend of them, but I though this band does fit your quote. ~:)
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