All About The Metal

Ranking Tristania's Albums

 Yes, I'm already making another one of these chapters. I have the inspiration right now, so I figured I may as well do another. This time it's Tristania, one of my favorite gothic metal bands. I've been listening to them a lot lately, and I've listened to all seven of their albums (I don't know when or even if they'll be making any more). After thinking it over, this is what I decided on: 

7. World of Glass (2001) 

 This was Tristania's third album, their first album without Morten Veland, and the last album made in their early musical style. I put this one at the bottom because I think this one just didn't come out too well. I like "The Shining Path" and a couple of other songs, but it's mostly kind of dull. On top of that, instead of having any real focus on the singers of the band, all the songs had mostly choirs and long instrumentals mixed with the harsh vocals of a guest vocalist since they didn't have Morten Veland. 

6. Illumination (2007)

 This is Tristania's fifth album and their last one with Vibeke Stene as the female vocalist (most of the other band members also left, but people obviously only cared about Vibeke leaving). I don't think there's anything wrong with the songs themselves, and the album isn't that bad, but there's something about it I just don't like. Vibeke doesn't sound too good on this album, and I've wondered if it was because of the change in musical style.

5. Beyond the Veil (1999)

 This was Tristania's second album and their last one with Morten Veland before he left the band. Now, this is one is a genuinely great album, and this is one of the albums a lot of fans consider to be their best. The reason this one is on fifth place is because I don't find on this one particularly memorable compared to the albums we're going to be looking at next. 

4. Rubicon (2010) 

 This is Tristania's sixth and their first with Mariangela Demurtas as the female vocalist. This was also their first album with Kjetil Nordhus performing clean male vocals. Osten Bergoy also appeared on this album (and also wrote the lyrics for most of the songs), but this was his last time doing any recording with the band. Now, this one is a bit all over the place and I'm not all that certain the band knew what they were doing when they recorded this, but I actually do like it, and I think it's wrorth listening to. 

3. Darkest White (2013)

 With this, their most recent album, they seemed to take the sound of albums like Illumination and Rubicon and go into a slightly darker direction. The combination of vocals from Mariangela Demurtas, Kjetil Nordhus and Anders Hilde is great, and this one seemed to be a lot better received by the fans than Rubicon was.

2. Widow's Weeds (1998)

 This one was Tristania's first album, and for me (and most other fans, I think) it's one of their best. When I listened to the full album for the first time, I was surprised by how beautiful it was. It's enchanting and maybe even a bit hypnotic. "My Lost Lenore" remains my absolute favorite Tristania song. 

1. Ashes (2005) 

 Ashes was their fourth album, and in a way, it's bit like a bridge between the rest of their albums. Before this one came Widow's Weeds, Beyond the Veil and World of Glass, which were all done in an old school gothic style with choirs and violins and all that. After it came Illumination, Rubcion and Darkest White, where they went in a completely different direction. 

 On Ashes, the band did get rid of the choirs and had a better focus on the vocals of Vibeke Stene and Osten Bergoy. It has the classic "Equilibrium" and other great songs like "Shadowman" and "Bird". It still had some of their old style, but saw them begin to venture into a different musical direction. 

 I will probably do another one of these chapters sometime soon. I don't know yet what band I'll be doing next.