The Passage Back to Life

Eastern Europe isn't known for its Metal, or music in general. There are very few that come out and the ones that do, typically aren't very good and/or fade away shortly afterwards. This band however, has been in the game for sometime and given their geographic location actually delivers the goods.
Their debut album is nothing short of flagrant MDB worship, with that said, it’s a very good debut for what it is, but it looses points due to lack of originality.
This album is akin to a slower 'As the Flower Writhers' era MDB. There is violin, slow romantic passages, and bursts of speed here and there. One of the bigger difference between this and MDB would be there is a female vocalist number one and number two she is the primary vocalist.
Regarding the vocals, for starters their very different. Most people expect a female vocalist to sound like Christina Scabbia or Tarja, or Anneke, trained and/or with a great range. This isn't the case here. Dunja has a good voice, but it’s more of a lower to mid range and it adds a different quality to the music at large. She does whale in a few places here and there but her unique vocals add a haunting sense of longing and sorrow that would otherwise be lost if she was a full blown soprano. There is a tangible yet ethereal presence in her voice that is simply wonderful (neat trick).
The male vocal presence is scant at best and is more in the old school style of cookie monster grunts. Not a whole lot else can be said, aside from they fit the music as well as could be expected.
The guitars are fairly thick and heavy. They have a keen sense of melody, but once again, they do borrow an obscene amount of riffs from MDB. The bass more or less follows the guitars and the drums are standard for the given style.
There are some keyboards present and they add a very strong depressive atmosphere. They aren't played constantly and are more or less used for filler between songs and intro/outros, but they are used to very good effect. The violin is also played well, but a little too close to Martins style (the keys are in the same boat most of the time).
The production is surprisingly good for an eastern European band. With the overall quality of the material exceptionally high. While not the most original it’s certainly delivered with precision and conviction. You could certainly do far worse.