Member who've played the Album
Morten Veland - vocals & guitars
Vibeke Stene - female vocals
Einar Moen - synth & programming
Kenneth Olsson - drums
Rune Osterhus - bass
Anders Hoyvik Hidle - guitars


Additional Musicians:

Pete Johansen - violins
Osten Bergoy - clean male vocals on Angellore

Label ©&® Napalm Records, 1998.

About the album
Produced by Tristania & T.Refsnes
Engineered by T.Refsnes
Recorded in Sound Suite studio during Nov./Dec.`97
All music composed by Tristania
Lyrics written by Morten Veland
Coverdesign & front photo by Sindre
Y.Kristoffersen
Bandphoto by: Emile Max. Ashley/Peter Hegre Studio
Photo background by Ken Bakke

Reviews


”Widow's Weeds” is classic Gothic. From “Preludium” to “Postludium”, this record is drenched in 19th century romance, Edgar Allen Poe and dark writing. This is Gothic of the old style with a touch of Doom and medieval theatre. TRISTANIA is offering the whole lot on this album, ranging from choirs, organs and strings to acoustic playing on “December Elegy”,...

As a band, TRISTANIA is an impressive ensemble. Morten Veland is the perfect frontman. He wrote most of the album, provides tasteful lyrics and delivers the growls. On the other end of the spectrum we have Vibeke Stene for opera style singing. Einar Moen on keys gives a class performance (“Preludium”, “Evenfall”, “My Lost Lenore”) and the rest of the band are rock solid in place, with Kenneth Olssen on drums, Anders Hidle on guitar and Rune Osterhus on bass. Honourable mention to Østen Bergoy and Pete Johanssen for clean male singing and violin respectively.


Tracklist

1. Preludium...
2. Evenfall
3. Pale Enchantress
4. December Elegy
5. Midwintertears
6. Angellore
7. My Lost Lenore
8. Wasteland's Caress
9. ...Postludium

Lyrics

1. Preludium...

Cruciami, Santa.... [x3]

2. Evenfall

Call thy name at nightfall
Reach out for thee life's rose
Cast thy veils at sunset
Trespass the waning in my halls
Prosperous beauty
Embraced by eden's heart
Call thy name out tearful
Reveal to me thy deepest loss

Cast... make haste my savage wall
for an end
Thy savage... bleak night
In life thy tears grow scarlet

Come desired nightfall
enchant my grievous loss
Life bewailed at sunset
Trespass the shadows in my heart
Arise before me
bequeath thy grievous loss
Dark at heart I mourn thee
Replace the vigour she once lost


3. Pale Enchantress

Dark... thou embrace my bleeding heart
My dreams... uniting our tearful eyes...
enchanting
At night... I kiss the serpent in thy tears
For years... thy sorrow I've mourned

Harken my moonchilds cry
yearning for another night
Mourning my once beloved
mezmorized and ravendark

My pale enchantress of the night
at last my candle's burning down
The wintermoon is shining bleak
for thee my enchantress

Enchanting all my dreams
a beauty and her flood of tears
Nightfall embrace my heart
mezmerized and ravendark

My pale enchantress of the night
I desire thee

Fearful I walk with thee... through dusk
Through winds of loss... Her beauty and her

flood embrace my bleeding heart
Tearful I fall with thee... at last
Lead me there... to where thy shadows cast

They dance in velvet darkness lost

Rise... bleak winterfullmoon
Rise...

In life... I kissed the serpent in thy tears
For years... thy sorrow I mourned...


4. December Elegy

May thou carry me to the sea
Like autumn leaves... heaven wither
Savage is the winter prevailing within
I fall for thee... Sorrow entreating me
Makes me leave heaven

I find thy lilies there of snow
where once I died... weeping for thee
Everlasting seems the strife ascending within
Falling for thee...
Darkness confounding me
Makes me leave life

Breed my woe
Descend with broken wings
Midwinternight inside
Merged by life... like thousand
frozen tears
Come melt the ice... maytime...


5. Midwintertears

Shadowcast upon my heart
endark... thy bleak midwintertears
condemned to mourn in silence
The pale moonrise in her eyes
Serene... like a frozen stream
the flowing beauty in thy tears

I crave for thee my once beloved
Beyond... the veils of darkness lost
where now thy roses wrapped in dusk

Dark enchantress
I suffer thy fullmoonnights
Trespass my undesired darkness
Tears... flowing through thy dreams

Dark enchantress
the seventh fullmoon rise
I drown in dusk and dark rivers

Summon all my dreams
like roses on your epigraph
written in my tears
thy sorrow and my bleeding heart

She comes so serene
my fallen beauty crowned with leaves
Take me to thy dream
Thy candle will forever burn in me...


6. Angellore

When summer`s gone- flee my Angel
Winterwinds they might lead you far away
Beyond the pale horizon- I greave in silence over dreams
to her heart yet unregained.

Embrace my bleeding.. Its`in her eyes..
Elysiums heart.. It`s in her heart..
The same eleysium from which I once lead astray..

Embrace my bleeding..It`s in her eyes..
Elysiums heart.. It`s in her heart..
The same delightful glades I once felt in me..

Angellore... revered at dusk
for thee I rose
now descend... all alone
Rise for me... soothe my heart
so wide a sea
may I overcome...

Into the night strays an angel
So lost..and tearful on astray..
low as the pale horizon- her veil is dying as she reach for
me beyond so wide a sea..

Embrace my bleeding.. It`s in her eyes...
Elysiums heart..It`s in her heart..
The same desire I felt burning in me..


7. My Lost Lenore

For thy promise bewailed
by her raveneyes
by her beauty and a scarlet sunrise
May thy river bury her silvertears
A fallen angel... enshrined in moonlit seas

Leaving vitality
so serene breeds my darkness
Entreating winterwinds
though I leave... I embrace thee

Winternight
conceal thy precious angellore
I secrete my soul
under thy wings of sorrow
Dark I embrace thy eyes
wander lost on life's narrow path
I reveal my heart
to this beauty dressed in dark

Grieving raveneyes
falls asleep with the sunrise
Delightful midsummer breeze
though I leave... I await thee

Grant me thy last midsummer breeze
May thou ascend from endless sleep
... my desire
Dance me above thy moonli seas
Glance yearningly into the deep
a cold and weary night

Widwinternight
Descending me like flakes of snow
I embrace the cold
for a life that morrows
Dark I embrace thy heart
Wanderer lost beyond veils of dawn
I conceal thy loss
enthralled in life yett still I mourn
My lost Lenore...


8. Wasteland's Caress

I mourn thee by dusk
I mourn thee by dawn
Crave for thy gloss
to seek the silent glades beyond
precious a glance
thy veils now unfold
tearfull she dance
into this nightfall I behold

Grieve at night
Thy bereavement and thy loss in life
Grieve by day
Thy devotion and thy pass away

Beyond the veils of dawn
from where she Siren calls

The sunset seize within as I walk
Through velvet dusk and dawn
condemned to rise and fall
So grievous through the night she calls
the beauty I once lost
I mourn thee my beloved

Far beneath thy heavens lost
where I once pale and cold
beheld thy rarest rose...

9. ... Postludium
(Instrumental)

Members who've play the Single

Morten Veland - vocals, guitars
Vibeke Stene - vocals
Einar Moen - synth
Kenneth Olsson - drums
Rune Osterhus - bass
Anders Hoyvik Hidle - guitar

Label ©&® Napalm Records, 1999.


About the MCD

Produced by Tristania and T.Refsnes in Sound Suite
during February/March 1999
Mixed by Tristania and T.Refsnes in May 1999
Mastered at Masterhuset, Oslo
Samples taken from Symphony Of Voices, Spectronics

All choirs composed and arranged by Einar Moen.

Tracklist

1. Angina (EP Version)
2. Opus Relinque (Radio Edit)
3. Saturnine

Lyrics

1. Angina (EP Version)

Through scornful declarence
and lumnious eyes
the shadows enveil
with the glorious night
Trespassing the sunset
like thou hast before
Entreating the daylight
to rage nevermore
Angina striking Elysium
A frail remembrance glorificates
the nightside-ascendance
veiled underneath thy funereal skies
The winds they may haunt me
in bloodredest skies
The moon may bewed
the strangest of light
The clasp of indifference
the conquering tide
The sweeping of daylight
...my vigour's decline
Thy Carrion Kind
Angina strikes Elysium
...a frail remembrance
Carrion Kind
My Carrion Kind


2. Opus Relinque (Radio Edit)

Challenge my own world to chaos
Thoughts to mind becomes
my arch enemies
Skin to teeth...
visions appears to me in red
Scouring my wounds with your spit
Down in apathy which is growing
Once dragged down within
a mayhem of light
Skin to teeth...ripping my inwards apart
Poisoned with wine from the sick
Silent to drowse with the phantoms
and let the fire engulf me
Sanguine rebirth
Sanguine divined rebirth
Now your faces facing me
as transparent masks
Still they pester me
Still they haunt...as placidity is borned
The remembrance...age of innocense lost
Ascend...
Fire dance with me
let me be the most licentious martyr
Sear me


3. Saturnine

At the day of wrath
there is but all
the concession of degeneration
none to me supreme...

Members who've play the "Album"

Morten Veland - vocals, guitars
Vibeke Stene - vocals
Einar Moen - synth
Kenneth Olsson - drums
Rune Osterhus - bass
Anders Hoyvik Hidle - guitar

Label ©&® Napalm Records, 1999.

About the album
Produced by Tristania and T.Refsnes in Sound Suite
during February/March 1999
Mixed by Tristania and T.Refsnes in May 1999
Mastered at Masterhuset, Oslo
Samples taken from Symphony Of Voices, Spectronics

All choirs composed and arranged by Einar Moen, except choirs on Aphelion by Morten Veiland.

Reviews
After the single "Angina" and the live already introduced title-track I was extremely anxious for this album and "Beyond The Veil" is the coronation of this genre, a masterpiece!

The opener and title-track alone alone doesn't leave anything to desire: alternating heavy Gothic Metal and emotional passages, underlined by Vibeke's divine vocals, the use of a violin, clean, deep male vocals, acoustic guitars - this song has everything a classic needs to have!

Contrary to many Gothic Metal-bands of today that get softer and try out electronica and other frippery, TRISTANIA have grown a good bit heavier on their second full album, something that suits the Norwegians perfectly, because the orchestral passages, in which Vibeke sometimes is accompanied by a choir, win even more atmospheric depth, just like in "Aphelion" or "Opus Relinque".

The already known "Angina" bristles with intensity and "Heretique" is, I guess, the heaviest TRISTANIA-track ever, with partly fast double-bass and harsh vocals on the one side and calmer passages with Gregorian sounding chants.

Tracklist
1. Beyond The Veil
2. Aphelion
3. A Sequel Of Decay
4. Opus Relinque
5. Lethean River
6. ...Of Ruins And A Red Nightfall
7. Simbelmyne
8. Angina
9. Heretique
10. Dementia

Lyrics

1. Beyond The Veil

Not fear, nor tears can reach me now
the light seems so clear as the night fades away
Behold of thy flame, below of all shame
Come conquer me sweet dreams of paradise
Dusk drawn hither to my evening star
A glance in thy mirror
The trance of thy mirror
Venus... through the looking glass
Dance so frail and lost in the fields afar
Cast off thy mourning
Clasp life and glory
Venus... through the looking glass
The sense of angels in veils of dawn
Like she runs forever among thy halls
The pale horizons are closing down
The reasons for living are lost somehow
Cross my heart with a glance upon the star of riddance
Drift afar like teardrops on the Stygian River

I'm the nightfall and wizard that summon thee
You're the blizzard that drape my eyes
I'm thy sorrow and vein of obscurity
You're the dagger that cuts

Shivers on the bleak horizon
Profound words... you're my frailty

See the light cease in thy life
Profound words... hurting me


2. Aphelion

Yearning for days of yore
in elysian daydreams
Burn with a fatal gloss
a confounding mirror of souls
Dance with the winterwinds
in thy visions so sanguine
Glance upon Stygian streams
where lies hidden a pale secrecy

Hark...
lures of the siren
yearn for the days when blithe thou was

Sworn to a secrecy
an arcanum devotee
Mourning a life with thee
a descendance of watery argentine
Trance of thy frailty
endure the exsanguine
Glance beyond closed eyelids
the conundrum of all mysteries
Crossing in life... my heart
with silver in times... I'm weak
too weak...
Wan circling skies
secretes... silvering sorrow
Precious to me Aphelion
Thou are the fields where we wither still
Exhaust in thy waning world
My Aphelion
on a broken mirror
where the veils of night and day seems as one
May thy lids gather again
on a vast and frail crusade
Invigoration of pain pervation this time

Aphelion
In decadence I take thee by the hand
too frail... to gain the promised land
too frail... to take your pain away
too frail... a sequel of decay
May milleniums gather
on the mirage of desolated souls
far between departure and sorrow
I breed my afterthought
In thy hours of vast dejection's haunt... wane
An angel strays upon my door
so frail and lost within
To weep upon her days of yore
my decadent come in
Her stain and tears upon my floor
the sorrow that she brings
Devotion of a life outworn
in decadence come in
May thy lids desorb from emerald seas
a pending solitary
Though thy pain redeems, life it seems to be
a fragile sanctuary


3. A Sequel Of Decay

In decadence I take thee by the hand
too frail...to gain the promised land
too frail...to take your pain away
too frail...a sequel of decay

May milleniums gather
on the mirage of desolated souls
far between departure and sorrow
I breed my afterthought
In thy hours of vast dejection's haunt...wane

An angel strays upon my door
so frail and lost within
To weep upon her days of yore
my decadent come in
Her stain and tears upon my floor
the sorrow that she brings
Devotion of a life outworn
in decadence come in

May thy lids desorb from emerald seas
a pending solitary
Though thy pain redeems, life it seems to be
a fragile sanctuary


4. Opus Relinque

Challenge my own world to chaos
Thoughts to mind becomes my arch enemies
Skin to teeth... visions appears to me in red
Scouring my wounds with your spit
Down in apathy which is growing
Once dragged down within a mayhem of light
Skin to teeth... ripping my inwards apart
Poisoned with wine from the sick
Silent to drowse with the phantoms
and let the fire engulf me
Sanguine rebirth
Sanguine divined rebirth
Now your faces facing me
as transparent masks
I'm pyretic to all heedful dead souls
claiming lands where even angels fear to tread
I am torture disguised
Named by man as a creeping jesus
All heedful souls
All heedful...
Still they pester me
Still they haunt... as placidity is borned
The remembrance... age of innocense lost
Ascend...
Fire dance with me
let me be the most licentious martyr
Sear me


5. Lethean River

Rise my clandestines, thy secrecies invoked
Streams of argentine across eyelids are drawn
Rise upon the tide, my castaway's outworn
Fall from distant worlds and redeyed skies above
Gesture of an argentine moisture
like snow upon the riverine
Gesture of an argentine moisture
so sore upon congeal skin
Ardency of life forsakened
time will gather the source of thy secrecies
Ardency of life forsakened
in swarthy hours thou ponder still
Invoke thy aeons in a dream
entrancing sleep
profound and prolix
Estranged to life's utility
Bequest thy endurance in the times of
lethargic
Lead me down in wailing hours
to the riverside
Reveal to me thy secrecies
hidden in the wan deep of thy infinite mourning
Lethean river carry me beneath thy riverine


6. ...Of Ruins And A Red Nightfall

Life gains intensified pain
to ascend within me once again
Woe strikes through radiant light
a quitus has conquered thy eyes
the sequel of life
Arising grievance rage through the eyes
of our existence a thousand times
The strife drawn hither as a daydream
ascendancy
In life we wither like laurel leaves in
winterwinds
Lurk far between
a pale destiny
drawn from the past
Enclasp my wrath in the prophecy of thine
Perchance to dream... Day of ire prithee
behold the haven of life
Perchance to dream... Day of ire prithee
may daylight draw thy veils aside
Summon the winterwind in which I walk
Enter the morning glades
of a fallen deathwish
Summon the starlight gloss in which thou rage
Enter the mourning shades
Call out in vain
for thee again
Perchance to dream you're my dancing queen
behold the haven of life
Perchance to dream... Day of ire prithee
may daylight draw thy veils aside
A strike of angina
Enthralled by the night and the shades at thy side
A star of riddance rage through the sky
Grant me thy visions... bequeath me life
Through times of yearning... on a path of indignity
No longer burning... at last this life's circuit I leave


7. Simbelmyne

[Instrumental]


8. Angina

Through scornful declarence and lumnious eyes
the shadows enveil with the glorious night
Trespassing the sunset like thou hast before
Entreating the daylight to rage nevermore
Angina striking Elysium
A frail remembrance glorificates the nightside-ascendance
veiled underneath thy funereal skies
The winds they may haunt me in bloodredest skies
The moon may bewed the strangest of light
The clasp of indifference the conquering tide
The sweeping of daylight... my vigour's decline
Thy Carrion Kind
Angina strikes Elysium... a frail remembrance
Carrion Kind
My Carrion Kind


9. Heretique

Let us be the ones
to put the thorn in thy eye
...let us be the ones
Squalid the weak stumbles
through all of life's obscurities
Lost in sacriliege
Revere the name
Accept the modesty
Falter through speres of the pain
Exhausted hours... Exhausted hours
Nothing from thy world will remain thine
except the very priviliege to die
Squalid the weak stumbles...
Orgasmic Mass Hysteria!
You're creeping for a charlatan god
Awake...


10. Dementia

Resurrection of a horrid dream
Blend of hate and intense desire
Putrify
Vile... surreal

Members who've play the "Album"

Vibeke Stene - vocals
Einar Moen - synth
Kenneth Olsson - drums
Rune Osterhus - bass
Anders Hoyvik Hidle - guitar

Osten Bergoy - clean male vocals
Ronny Thorsen - extreme vocals
Jan Kenneth Barkved - clean male vocals
Pete Johansen - violins

Choir consisting of: Vibeke Stene, Sandrine Lachapelle, Emile Lesbros, Johanna Giraud, Damien Surian and Hubert Piazzola

Label ©&® Napalm Records, 2001.

About The Album

Recorded in Sound Suite Studio, France, during february, March and April 2001 Engineered, produced and mixd by Terje Refsnes
Mastered at Matterhuset, Oslo

All music composed by Einar Moen & Anders Hoyvik Hidle except "The Modern End" composed and recorded by Seigmen and Erik Ljunggren All choirs composed & arranged by Einar Moen Ronny Thosen appears with kind permission of Trail Of Tears
Additional black voice on "Tender Trip On Earth" and "The Shining Path" by Anders Hoyvik Hidle

Reviews

TRISTANIA always had been more complex and also more extreme. Had been? No, the new long-player "World Of Glass" still can be put into this category. They just took up a few new things, like electronic sounds and folky violins. Additionally they secured the services of three vocalists, TRAIL OF TEARS' Ronny taking care of the lion's share, he just has the perfect grunt-voice! Yet the most enticing element of the TRISTANIA-sound still is the bewitching voice of sight for sore eyes Vibeke. No doubt, the visual effect of this Nordic beauty is outstanding, but why does the lady have to grace the cover with her presence alone? Typically for Napalm Records.

But wait, basically we are used to naked chicks! How many outstanding albums have already been lousened up by this cliché-shit? But to come back to the songs, they are very demanding, quite complex and not really easily digestible. You really have to listen to it for a few times, but the arrangements are brilliant, Gregorian choirs, acoustic guitars, distorted vocals, the creativity of TRISTANIA is nearly boundless! With the almost shamelessly catchy, balladesque "Deadlocked" they even have a potential hit!

Like we could expect, a further improvement to the great "Beyond The Veil"-album.

Tracklist

1. The Shining Path
2. Wormwood
3. Tender Trip On Earth
4. Lost
5. Deadlocked
6. Selling Out
7. Hatred Grows
8. World Of Glass
9. The Modern End
10. Crushed Dreams

Lyrics

1. The Shining Path

Don't care if I choke....
Sacrifice me for my sins
For my beliefs
Spit at me
Die... with me
When I'm gone
Death will come to you
Death will cry...

The flames went high to lick the skin on her chin
The words she said
For those words she would die
The crowd circles around her
Praising their merciful god
Her screams grew weaker
"Heathen, heathen"
The mass was shouting
The children that once were loving
Now their small hands were full of rocks

They found her bleeding
The dark night came creeping
Was she one of the devil's own kind?

Beyond belief
Beyond the pain
And grief
I lay low
And crawl deep
Choosing the narrow path

Fear your thoughts and let the father judge them
Walk the shining path and guide the weakling along
The crowd circles around her
Praising their merciful god
Their screams grew higher
"Heathen, heathen"
The mass was shouting
Hunt down the profane
And put them to the torch

Burn me on the fire
Call me liar
Shout at me
Cry for me
When I'm gone
Death will come to me
Death will cry...
Burn me on the fire...


2. Wormwood

"...The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and in the fountains of water.
The name of the star is Wormwood.
A third of the waters became Wormwood, and many died of the water, because it was made bitter..."

In taberna quando sumus
non curamus quid sit humus,
hoc est opus ut queratur
[???]

I can see God's unborn son
Playing with a loaded gun
All our sins...
He'll die for us...
Or did somebody lie to us?
I can see the shape of God
Drowning in a pool of blood
A mighty choir of ancient generations sings
Behold! The hand of death
Squeezing out earth's final breath
The stars are falling from the sky
And I know why

See God and his hand of death
Squeezing out earth's final breath
How did it all come to this?
Brought to us by Judas kiss?
I watch the sun go out
I've lived to see the end

As I watch the sun go out
My loss of faith replaced by doubt
All our sins...
He'll die for us...
Or did somebody lie to us?

Let us pour one final drink
Fill the glasses to the rim
The world's on fire
I still can hear the choir sing
Behold! Your nightmares are fulfilled
God just got his final will
The world stops spinning
And death is all around...

Come...
Join this toast
God is dead...


3. Tender Trip On Earth

Another day
The next page
Still in daze
Still in a dream
Out of the pipe
My lust for life
Comes and goes
From above
Demanding purity
Sobriety
Cursing me like a sledge
Hammering down at me
Out of the water-pipe
I suck my lust for life
And all my floating dreams
It seems
Up on the gallery
God shouting down at me
Something I can not hear

Tears falling from the sky
Words from a lullaby
Everything beautiful dies
For now, we're hanging in
Though we are blessed with sin
You make my tired heart sing

You can be a sunbeam
And shine for a while
For a while
You can laugh a lot
And bring out that smile

For now we're hanging in
Even though we're blessed with sin
You make my heart...
You make my tired heart sing

Tears falling from the sky...

I'm on a tender trip
Slowly I'm loosing grip
Madness is in the air I fear
Stay, you're my acid-queen
Stay on my faded team
Run through the corridor with me


4. Lost

Hard...
I'm harder than the life I've lived
Strong...
I'm stronger than the pain you give
It's lost...
So lost
The world you're in
The life you live
I see the lies
The darkside of the smiles you give

I'm one
I'm anyone you like me to be
I'm gone
Whenever you would like to be free

Old...
I'm older than the years I've lived
Cold...
I'm colder than the smile you give
My life has been the dreams you say I'm living in
How long will you be lost, my dear
When will you give in?


5. Deadlocked

You've had your last regrets
Reached your final depths
Deepest pits
Stepped aside for the world to pass you by
Chose to leave the fear
You are stuck in a world of deadlocks
This time it's real
This time it's for real

This world
Its evil ways
The pain that I hide
Let's make this happen...

Left with the shame
Will somebody out there give me the blame?
Someone...

Show me
It's too far to see
What God made of us
Tell me it's a dream
Was it meant to be this way?


6. Selling Out

Am I alive?
Feels like dying
Down, down
Fists are striking me
It gets so dark
Or are my eyes blinded?
Down, down
Boots are kicking me
The coward, the sinner, the thief
The liar, the misfit, the creep
I'm running out of
Steps to walk
Of air to breathe
And words to talk
I'm running out of
Noise to make
Of jokes to tell
And hearts to break

For days burned and frozen lies
The years that passed me by
The child in me just died
The scars in me will never heal
An overdose of nothingness
My visions are for sale
I'm selling out

I am alive
But always falling
Down, down
I hear voices calling me
The coward, the sinner, the thief
I am alive
Kind of wasted
Down, down
Hands are reaching me
The coward, the sinner, the thief
The liar, the misfit, the creep

I'm running out of
Dreams to dream
Of tears to spend
And screams to scream
I'm running out of life again
Smothering...
Turning into dust


7. Hatred Grows

Out of the dim
The ships were closing in
Warriors...
Worrying...
Painted to kill
Kill and be killed
More than fight to survive
I'll give you strength to continue the fight
I'll feed you anger and soft little lies
Out of blood hatred grows
No place to hide
Kill and be killed
More than fight to survive
I'll be your shining star
I'll be your guide

Wounded and dying
The screaming of men
To death it will be
Enemies attacking again and again
So much pain
So many tears
Out of blood
Hatred grows

Beneath the flags
He watched them row in
Warriors...
Worrying...
Painted to kill

Seeking the courage to stand up and fight
The war drums were sounding from ships out of sight
My god is great
I've killed before
All is fair in love and war and peace

Mayhem...
The vultures awaited their feast
Eagerly...
Circling low...
Where dead takes the dead only our ancestors know
So much pain
So many tears
Out of blood
Hatred grows


8. World Of Glass

All you ever wanted
All that you desire
Walk the line with me
I'll take you higher
I feel your body shake
Put me on fire
All you ever wanted...
All that you desire...
Who's the prey
What's the play
God created
Stay with me
We are the ones God hated

I'm a falling stone in a world of glass
I'm a ticking bomb with a smiling mask

Can you ever let go?

I'll play you like a violin
...stay...
You will be queen
I will be king
I'll chase your scary monsters
On the run
With me you are safe
I'm in control

I'll fulfil all your dreams
Every fantasy
I will be
What you need
Satisfaction guaranteed

Can you see them?
Can you hear them?
Can you feel them?
Do you fear them?


9. The Modern End

Camera angles
Decadence of a dying world
Matchsticks
Long dark corridors
They've got the urge to die young

Deepbluelettering

Carousels and fireworks
Ferris wheels
Are spinning in the arc-lite city
Do they know
They have slept for so long
Do they know
The taste of their tongue
Do they know
They are trapped

Let's celebrate the modern end
Let the world begin again
Celebrate the renaissance man


10. Crushed Dreams

You choke a scream
Crushing a dream
Made the scheme real

Show this sinner your precious god
Lift the blame off my shoulders
With a simple thought
Show me life's pleasure
And how it is caught
Not just the air I breathe
Or the dream I forgot...

The last smile
The last word
It's time to face the final outcome
The pagan
The godless deeds
Fall...
Deep...
Your vacuum made complete

Exterminate...
Eradicate...

Preparing for death
Awaiting the light to shine on us
Wishing the sun to fall down on our heads
Show us the joy in the world that we're living in
Turn our dreams into sin

Your first breath
The far tolls
It's you these bells were made to call for
The pagan
The godless deeds
Crawl...
Deep...
The last hypocrisy

Walk the path
The shining path

Lift this prayer to heaven's heights
Feed my mind with the most glorious thoughts
Sacrificing all my dreams
For this I will serve and honour to death
Or do I just fear the tyrant's wrath

Members who've play the "Album"

Vibeke Stene - vocals
Einar Moen - synth
Kenneth Olsson - drums
Rune Osterhus - bass
Anders Hoyvik Hidle - guitar
Osten Bergoy - clean vocals
Kjetil Ingebrethsen - extreme vocals

Hans Josef Groh - cello on Shadowman, Endogenisis & The wretched

Label ©&® SPV, 2005.

About The Album
Recorded in TopRoom studio during April - June & October 2004.Cello recorded in Fagerborg StudioEngineered by Borge FinstadMixed by Borge Finstad & TristaniaAdditionally engineered by DrajevolitchProduced by Tristania & Borge FinstadMastered by Morten Lund at Masterhuset

All music and words written by Tristania, except Libre & Circus (music by Tristania, words by Kjartan Hermansen)
Words on The wretched partly based on Kjartan Hermansen's poem "Ascending: Descending" Additional vocals by Anders Hoyvic Hidle & Einar Moen

Reviews

"Ashes" is clearly the heaviest Tristania album to date. Cutting back from the frequent use of keyboards and making more use of guitars (acoustic included). It also lacks choirs and operatic vocals from Vibeke Stene. This, however, isn't bad. All tracks still contain that Tristania touch that none of their albums lack. However, it might take a few more listens to be able to tolerate.

As for highlights, there are none because there are no songs which are superior to others. Obviously, there are some songs which one could consider as his/her personal favorites. Mine are "Libre", "Shadowman", "The Gate" and "Endogenisis". "Shadowman" is clearly the best song of the album. It's an awesome duet between Vibeke and Østen. It contains incredible vocal contrast, along with haunting gothic lyrics. The best part of the song is approximately after the fifth minute (you'll find out why).

As you probably know, there are a lot of versions of this album. There are some which have 7 songs, some which have 8 and some which have 9. Personally, I wouldn't suggest the version with "Bird". However, the bad thing is that there is no version which contains "The Gate" only. It's not that "Bird" is weak (it's as perfect as the others), but "Endogenisis" should be the last track. It's the climax of the album and ends the way an ending track should. "Bird", on the other hand, shouldn't be at the end. It's not as good an ending as "Endogenisis". However, it's still as great as all the other tracks on the album.

"Ashes" is undoubtedly the least accessible album Tristania have released. As you can see, I went from hating it, to thinking it's perfect. I would suggest "Ashes" as your last Tristania album, but it's still as perfect as "World of Glass". Seriously, there's no flaw in this album.

In conclusion, "Ashes" may not be as full of vocals, violins and choirs as "World of Glass", however, the band still delivered the same great deal of emotional music as before. It's simply an astonishing piece of work.

Tracklist

1. Libre
2. Equilibrium
3. The Wretched
4. Cure
5. Circus
6. Shadowman
7. The Gate
8. Endogenisis
9. Bird

Lyrics


1. Libre

Encapsulate the night!
wrap up the truth in candy-striped paper
and throw us a blood-sodden
torn and holey
rotten through the core
party

I stand with you now, my friend
My razor tongue is licking your rosy cheeks and battered ears
I whisper sordid secrets that are neither true nor false
I hold your hand in defiance
Amplify your feeble voice against evil
I hold your spine and shake most violently

The silver light is overthrown
Rejoice with me
for we have denominated the devil
(And I shall get to fulfil my own)

When I die, I slay a hundred
When I die, I raise a thousand

Rejoice with me
for we have denominated the devil
(And I shall get to fulfil my own)

Every bullet hole in our holy town
is an orifice for me to rape
every woman slain is my whore
and every precious child crying
a golden orb of fire

I stand with you now, my friend
I nibble at your earlobes
till they bleed the truth divine
Smear my name in their fearful faces
I hold your hand in vengeance
Your muffled words are a horrid
choir across the sea
This licking pyre cannot be douted by
their tears


2. Equilibrium

This is the slowest dance
The dance of a thousand years
The dance of the frozen statues
Clinging together in tears

This is the darkest fight
The fight of a thousand years
The pounding of blood
Through our veins
In our veins
In our eyes
The circles of fear

I cling to you
So cold, so bright
Cling to me through the night

In our veins
Through our veins
The circles of fear
I cling to you
Cling to you
So cold, so bright

Motionless faces
Park of the wasted
In the pale gloom
I hang on to you
In the pale gloom
I am safe and cool

I swim in you
In your dark rivers
Dive in your mind
Search for your monsters
Search for resistance
Sink into the mud
Dance in the halls of insanity
Yet madness is
Your highest deed
Your vanity

Mistress - you made me
Mistress - you saved me
In your cold hands
I am just a tool

Mistress - you made me
Mistress - you saved me
In your cold hands
I am safe and cool

I swim in you
In your dark rivers
Dive in your mind
Search for your monsters
Search for resistance
Sink into the mud
Dance in the halls of insanity
Yet madness is
Your highest deed
Your vanity


3. The Wretched

Welcome, my friend
(Now) It's you and I
Do you sense the eye that watches you?
Can you feel her muted scream?
This is our very own horrid dream

Can you hear her hollow cry?
From the other side
You can't see her - you can't reach her
But you feel her watching you

Now she sings her lullaby
The sun has died
This is the voyage that never ends

A black light
The lost souls are craving
Clinging to their last glimpse of hope
The restless won't leave you alone
You cannot set them free
The blood flows
Your fear grows
Awaiting an accident
Veiled eyes
See right through your darkened mind
You cannot set them free

The song of demons plays on the wind
Can you hear the wretched's call?
Their shuffling feet
Your pounding heart
Now you know you're falling
Chanting words you do not catch
Their cries for help you never sensed
An organic mass of despair
This nightly mare

They cry your name, which is silence
They play their game, which is violence

Unsound.


4. Cure

In your web
The threads entangle
Your prey is dead -
Dyed in silence

I'll forever stay with you
At your feet I will kneel
At your will
Dead silent

When I move - I am moved by you
When you rule - All is ruled by you
In your world - There is only you
In my world - There is only you

In your web
The threads entangle
At your will
Dead silent

Your words are shivers down my spine
I'm numb and shapeless - in your web - in your web
My blood runs slow and red like wine
The past is shattered - forever

I serve your will - for I have been bruised and battered
and covered
I serve your will - for I have been ordinated your lover


5. Circus

Tied up and gagged
Hooded and tagged
They're all yours to command

I am corpse, I am carrion prey
I have a crow at each brow
plucking eyes in my mask of death
The darkness is complete

Who's the hooded one, mother mine?
Who is gagged when all are silent?
and bitten when we move

Inflamed! My mask is burning
The night is dead; dark, putrid flesh turning
'pon a chair in the dying corner
I am your bagful of fear
I'll commit, I'll admit
I'll be the dagger, drive me in
I'll be all motionless and still
My river runs within - still and deep

I am beast, I am carrion prey to the Cyclops tribe
String me up to a cherry tree
come one, come all - and hang with me
I'm already hogtied - entangled in your marionette strings

I am dancing
the embodiment of fear
a shake for every fearful tear
a ruckus for the righteous
In the end
They no longer know
cast stones into mirrors - onto themselves

Mother mine!
Stab yourself, mother mine
bleed your own river, dark and wide
Mine runs within, still and deep
Don't shake me so, it will overflow


6. Shadowman

At night - asleep
Nightmares - not dreams
Drag me through the dirt
There is no place to run - nor hide

He's in my blood
I try to keep him out
He rules the pain
He makes up the ugly thoughts
The rotten words
He distracts my nerves

His claws
His poisoned laughter twists the knife
His long sharp teeth
Motionless silence
Sullen muttering

He holds the blame
He's in my veins

He holds the blame
I try to keep him out
He rules the pain inside
He makes up the ugly thoughts
The rotten words
He distracts my nerves

I've never seen his face
But I have felt his breath so many times
Soaked in sweat
Sleepingpills and cigarettes
But when the day
chases the night away:


7. The Gate

[Bonus Track]

An army of ambition
is moving
and it shakes the ground
Ten thousand hungry hearts
with iron heels
Burns and rapes
Sucks the earth dry
Cuts and slays
All that gets in its way
Mighty forces of destruction
Way beyond control
Nothing sleeps tonight

Decay and sinister silence
Your world ripped in dust and ruins

I shed no tears for your pain
I shed no tears for the past

Unleash all the beasts from imprisonment
And arm them with sticks and stones
Bring them into the land of chaos
Watch mankind's last gate fall

Trembling hands in fire burned
As we march into the night
Every last stone will be turned
Within the bright daylight

We are the hounds of hell
You will kneel
You will bend
We feast at her grave
In the bloodmist we stand
Victorious


8. Endogenisis

There is only one way out
One word left to shout
The last little slope to climb
Then my feet slip again
Your threatening voice
Gets me back up on my feet again

I will find the truth within your skin
You keep feeding me distractions
Feeding me lies
But I know the truth is there
In fragments
in bits
and pieces

Tall and slender
But your eyes are lustreless
Your facade may glimmer
Your surface may be smooth silk
You've been convinced of your own illusions
But your weary eyes unveil a sinner

Running...
Steadily you hunt me down
Until my feet collapse
Gasping...
You never rest
Struggling to breathe
You try to sink me in the mud

My dearest enslaved
Shackled
Locked up in my cage
My dearest enslaved
Fragile beauty depraved


9. Bird

A friendly push
Off the cliff - is all I need
A sudden change
Or a smile
Could make me feel alive,
Anything to take the ignorance away

There is a hole in my chest
where my heart used to be
If you're looking for emptiness,
I'm what you need
Colder and darker and worse
Sometimes life's just a curse

My ashen face
My snow-white skin
Perfect Isolation
Time - slips
My asylum years
Will end in silence
Without tears

All illusions lost
All colours faded
A senseless pain
Transparent
Imperfection
Falling
Like a sparrow to the ground
Leave no trace of life

Music as my ship set sails
Through the window
From the street
Divine
Goodbye

Leave no marks
upon my skin
Dreamless sleep
The convent walls on fire
Goodbye

Dreams and betrayal - hand in hand
Falling apart in a drug wonderland
Unable to move and talk
Unable to care at all...

Somebody is knocking at my door
Somebody - I think I have seen before
I'm trembled and shaken and stirred
I wish I could be a bird