Seduction

'Seduction' is a criminally underrated and overlooked piece of gothic metal from a band who may well possess one of the most poorly chosen names in the history of music (try this band in a search engine). While Dark's debut was akin to a wonderful astral trip that sounded like early Crematory collided with a few Dream Theater segments somewhere in the deep cosmos, 'Seduction' is polished, refined, romantic, sorrowful gothic metal that at first listen, has a general sound reminiscent of 'Projector' by Dark Tranquillity - except that 'Seduction' was released 2 years before. Indeed, much about the sound of Dark on their sophomore effort seems to be something many good bands later on would be noticed for (the Tristania debut is the first thing that springs to mind), yet this band seems to really hone it home first with little fanfare. The ingredients thrown into the excellent, excellent songwriting include 4 different vocal styles - clean male, rough male, growling male, clean female (the closest thing, to that point, being My Dying Bride, perhaps Avernus, or the first Darkseed album) - ethereal keyboards that use textures which come off as creative for what the band does, and a sense of structuring that, while having a chorus in each song, tends to place said chorus wherever it well wishes and surrounds it with layers of other verses and often unexpected twists and turns.

The music here is so diverse and gently non-linear at times that one often doesn't notice the lack of lead guitar, a trait usually focused on as a main venturing-out from a song - not that the songs here would suffer with leads, but as they are, they go so many places that they wind up affording to take a different route and do without a lot of more expected elements. Jochen Donauer's drumming helps propel this with an almost tribal sense of dead-on rhythm/counter-rhythm in each song, his tracks being just one more layer of hooks to add to the compositions, and echoing the huge dynamics contained in nearly every minute of the album. Songs such as 'Shadowdancer' or 'My Desire' achieve towering romanticism and lurching hypnosis, stemming hugely from his drum work, the latter being a massive peak in the middle of the album as Michael Löchter and Mathias Fickert's dual vocals sing, scream, and growl on a paradox of passion and pain as the unique keys find their place with ease within the hills and valleys of the composition. Michael Löchter's vocals in particular are an interesting twist on very roots-styled death metal growls, as they manage to convey a subtle sense of melody while staying firmly guttural, mimicking neither the beginnings of death metal vocals, the deeper style hammered out shortly thereafter, nor the 'melodic death metal' style growing in popularity at the time of this release. Although four different vocal styles sound like a set of tools most effectively used on a basis of one or two per song, Dark differentiates from their few contemporaries in gothic metal by often utilizing all four in one single song with fantastic aplomb.

As made apparent, dynamicism and variation is king in this album, since no card is really played twice or the same way, either in the song order or within the songs themselves. 'Love and Seduction' is a sweeping and moving heavy ballad with some unique wordplay on a familiar subject, while 'Dark Clouds Rising' conjures the title perfectly both in lyricism and mood - a perfect introduction to an album that will take the listener away to a storm-gathered, lovelorn world of ethereal and intense bittersweet. Dark ventures into softer territory as well with 'This Falling Veil' and 'Broken Down', though both pieces descend quickly into a heavier, more esoteric vision of what the melancholy piano and clean guitar parts initially suggest, and prove to be as emotionally exhausting as anything else on the album.

In terms of each aspect of melody, lyricism, and atmosphere, this album is one of the most purely gothic recordings to be heard in metal or otherwise. It manages to take sounds which would later be vehicles for cliche, subject matter which typically doesn't evenly spread over a full-length, and conjure up something wholehearted, inspired, and utterly enraptured in what might be known as classically gothic or depressive, with emphasis on that longing, romantic spirit, doing it all with little, if any, stuffy kitsch to be found. 'Seduction' is a moving and unique record that deserves to be heard by more whose bleeding hearts only beat harder after the sun goes down.



Originally submitted to rateyourmusic.com by MYSELF.