Ab Luce

Tristia opens the record with a highly distorted rhythm guitar and drums till the vocals and lead guitar are kicking in. Nothing really uncommon happens in the first minutes of the song, however soon some simple melody is taking the lead. This melody is accompanied by a weird piano melody that could resemble a music box which is creating a great contrast to everything that happened before. There are two of this interplays and besides those, nothing really extraordinary happens. The second song Ases Tod is a pure instrumental, which is quite good, but nothing really catchy according the rest of the record.

Tantalos seems to have a big passion for melodies, as he saved much room for them, for instance through the quite subtle vocals. The atmosphere he is creating in his songs is often enhanced, for instance through spoken passages, but also often destroyed through weird stylistic elements. A Good example for this destruction can be found in Mensch Inmitten.

Another big flaw are the programmed drums, which sounds very unmotivated and sluggish from time to time, although it has its light moments, for instance in Des Mädchens Klage, which is surely the best track on the record. The biggest flaw can be found in the aforementioned Mensch Inmitten in which some elements of Hip Hop are used (electronic beats instead of drums etc.).

Conclusion:

Ab Luce has some big flaws, which could be named as the high usage of synthesizer sounds and the programmed drums. The structures of the songs is quite good, and so are the melodies which are some points on the good side. The mentioned music box sounds are revisited quite a few times through the use of piano melodies which spices things up a little. This and the quite extraordinary style Tantalos is playing results in the given rating. If you are not afraid of experimental music, you definately should risk an ear.
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Originally published on http://threnodies.com