Where Twilight Dwells

Midnattsol's full-length debut shows that while the members have been in the same bands in the past, that familiarity does little to harm their efforts. Equal parts haunting acoustic melody and surprisingly heavy power metal, Where Twilight Dwells shows the band is capable of pulling off the coveted combination with ease where so many other bands of similar style founder.

Guitarists Christian Hector and Daniel Droste turn in tasteful performances, alternating between the punishing riffs of "Lament" and folksy acoustic passages in several songs, with a good amount of competent solos intended to complement rather than overpower Carmen Elise Espenaes's contralto singing. Impressively consistent songwriting shows the rest of the band is certainly capable of handling their instruments as well, as the rhythm section pounds away in "Another Return" and sets a slower pace for the numerous ballads on the album, notably "Unpayable Silence" and the native-tongued "Pa Leting."

Unfortunately, that consistency is the album's only flaw of any great significance. Midnattsol either must have taken great pains to rig the arrangements to give the listener a frustratingly revealing look at what the band does best, or they simply didn't realize that the resulting power metal-power ballad-power metal structure makes the entire effort sound staged. Considering that this is hardly the first band the members have found themselves in together, the latter seems highly unlikely. Couple the structure with the inordinate number of saccharine ballads and an irritating mouth harp, and repeated listens become painful.

Rather, Where Twilight Dwells is a calculated recording, made so consistent with the intent to prove that the band is neither another female-fronted folk band nor another Nightwish knockoff, but is an outfit with something original to say. Sadly, the focus on dispelling any of the listener's prejudices leaves little room for including anything other than pummeling aggression jarringly divided by soulful sadness for over the album's hour-plus length.

Impressive enough and listenable but maddening in the truest sense of the word, Midnattsol charts waters that should be familiar enough to anyone who's heard the members' material in past bands. Whether or not they'll push themselves a bit farther next time after proving themselves competent now remains to be seen.