01. Sweet Cantation 03:54 02. Sarah (Bury Her) 04:31 03. Tristan 04:10 04. Ride For Glory 04:42 05. My Pale Prince 04:46 06. Eternal Darkness 05:01 07. What You Wish For 04:15 08. Oedipus 05:28 09. Army of The Damned 04:25 10. No Compromise 05:13

Have you ever let someone hear a female-fronted metal band – particularly from the symphonic/power metal pile – only for them to instantly compare the act to Finnish stars Nightwish? If I had a penny for the amount of times that friends and relatives have instantly brushed off Within Temptation, Tristania and… errr, Bonnie Tyler, as copycats of Tuomas Holopainen’s outfit, I’d like, have a fair few pence. Doesn’t it infuriate you? Well, if it does, don’t let such arseholes hear London’s Pythia… because, annoyingly, it will be hard to disagree with them.

The band features Mediaeval Baebes enchantress Emily Ovenden on lead vocals, whose pipes are hauntingly like those of former touring partner (ex-Nightwish singer) Tarja Turunen. Despite this, they still have some originality and savvy about their chops. First track ‘Sweet Cantation’ tears through the speakers, its thrash-tastic riff intertwined with twinkling synth glitter. The guitar and drum work of Ross White and Marc Dyos brings a more extreme influence to the table, one not often heard in the cold, lovelorn wilderness of symphonic metal; their participation in death metal act Descent might explain this. Second track and the group’s definitive song ‘Sarah (Bury Her)’ is glorious, the soaring guitars and lamenting orchestral refrains providing a master class in gothic metal. ‘Tristan’ delivers more of the same blissful, epic riffs, the sort that make you want to jump on your unicorn, draw your sword and ride through the blizzards to Dracula’s castle to save the princess (only to find out she’s in another castle. Anyone?) while ‘My Pale Prince’ provides chilling harpsichord-and-strings chuggery in the (bleeding) vein of Cradle of Filth.
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01. Samadhi Prelude 01:27 02. Resign to Surrender A New Age Dawns Part IV 06:19 03. Unleashed 05:48 04. Martyr of the Free Word 05:03 05. Our Destiny 06:00 06. Kingdom of Heaven A New Age Dawns Part V 13:35 07. The Price of Freedom Interlude 01:14 08. Burn to a Cinder 05:41 09. Tides of Time 5:34 10. Deconstruct 04:14 11. Semblance of Liberty 05:42 12. White Waters 04:44 13. Design Your Universe A New Age Dawns Part VI 09:29 14. Incentive 04:14

Design Your Universe is the fourth studio release from Dutch symphonic metal sextet Epica. Released in 2009, Design Your Universe sees Epica take a slightly darker path than in previous releases: the growls are more frequent and the black metal shredding and blast beat drums are more pronounced. Fans of the traditional Epica sound need not despair though as front woman and operatic mezzo-soprano Simone Simons remains centre stage, defying the black metal onslaught with mighty lungs and melody at the forefront. This blend of heaviness and soaring melody has set Epica apart from many of their contemporaries in the crowded European symphonic/gothic metal genre and Design Your Universe sees them tighten their grip on the symphonic metal crown.

Recorded in early 2009, existing members Simone Simons (vocals), Mark Jansen (guitar), Yves Huts (bass), Ariën van Weesenbeek (drums) and Coen Janssen (keyboards) were joined by new lead guitarist Isaac Delaheye, replacing Ad Sluijter who departed in 2008. Former God Dethroned axeman Delahaye has to wait until after orchestral and choral prelude Samadhi to make his presence felt. The ‘proper’ album opener Resign to Surrender continues the choral theme for a time before blasting into some top quality black metal riffage. Full synthesised orchestration battles for dominance with super energetic and tight drumming, pummelling bass work and seven string guitar shredding as well as Jansen’s backing snarls and Simons’ ethereal voice. Delaheye’s black metal influence resurfaces from the wonderfully melodious noise in a blistering solo and crunching lead guitar parts. The technical guitar work: stringskipping, sweeps and diminished arpeggios show off yet another weapon in the Epica arsenal.
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01. The One I Once Was 04:46 02. The Pain Infernal and the Fall Eternal 05:16 03. The Eye of the Storm 05:10 04. The Malice of Life’s Cruel Ways 05:02 05. The Wheel of Fire 04:09 06. The Chains that Wield My Mind 04:30 07. The New Desire 03:50 08. The Vile Bringer of Self-Destructive Thoughts 03:52 09. The Candle at the Tunnel’s End 04:00

Morten Veland is something of a pioneer in the world of Gothic Metal; he was one of the founder members of Tristania, and went on to leave them to form Sirenia. So it’s fair to say he knows his way around the genre, and it’s not much of a surprise that his solo project produces exactly that. For the sake of continuity, he’s even managed to end the band name in “-ia”.

This is a proper solo project, no messing about with guest musicians or even producers - Veland has done literally everything himself, all of the instruments, music, lyrics, even the recording, engineering, mixing and producing. In his own studios. The one concession he’s made to the existence of the rest of the musical world is to use a choir, but I bet that’s just because he didn’t have time to multi-track himself singing all twenty parts. Yes, this is the Morten Veland show, his musical vision finally put straight from his head to record in its purest form.
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01. The Feverish Alliance 4:01 02. Once Kissed By The Serpent (Twice Bitten By Truth) 3:22 03. Bloodstained Endurance 3:36 04. Triumphant Gleam 3:41 05. In The Valley Of Ashes 3:55 06. A Storm At Will 4:00 07. Take Aim. Reclaim. Prevail 3:12 08. The Desperation Corridors 4:13 09. Farewell To Sanity 4:32 10. Dead End Gaze 3:58 11. Faith Comes Knocking 4:32 12. Onward March The Merciless (Digipak bonus track) 3:08

Roughly a decade ago the world of Gothic Metal had just been revolutionised by the appearance of three Norwegian bands; Tristania, The Sins of Thy Beloved and Trail of Tears. Out of the three bands Tristania was instantly the most recognisable and went on to redefine the genre and spawned many copy-cat acts.

Fast forward ten years and things are very different. The genre of so called “Beauty and the Beast” Gothic Metal hasn’t really changed much, some claiming it has become stagnant, Tristania’s future seems doubtful with members leaving faster than rats abandoning a sinking ship, Sirenia, a Tristania spin off band, released two glorious albums before sinking to glorified goth pop with their latest two offerings and The Sins of Thy Beloved have been on hiatus since 2001.

After the release of their previous album, ‘Existentia,’ most of the members abandoned the band and many fans feared the death of Trail of Tears. However after listening to the opening tracks of ‘Bloodstained Endurance’ Trail of Tears have proved that they are neither dead nor stagnant.
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