一聽音樂網

來自挪威的歌特金屬團Trail Of Tears(淚之痕樂團) ，在今年一月底由Napalm Record發行第五張專輯【Existentia】，請到法籍女主唱Emmanuelle Zoldan、挪威籍鍵盤手Bernt Moen助陣演出。這張專輯同時也是Trail Of Tears換了新主唱Kjetil Nordhus后的第二度表現。



The career of Trail of Tears isn't exactly one without ups and downs. Once started as a very promising gothic/doom metal band, Trail of Tears seemed to progress to the top quickly, but this progression slowed down due to the departure of the controversial opera singer Helena Iren Michaelsen. Probably every band would go looking for a new female vocalist, but Trail of Tears surprised the fans: Helena was replaced with male singer Kjetil Nordhus (Green Carnation). This resulted in the good CD "Freefall into Fear", which also showed a new musical course, leaning more towards death with industrial and gothic influences.

Now there is the new album "Existentia", which continues where "Freefall into Fear" ended. The new album is less aggressive, but sounds 100% Trail of Tears and is once again carried by the strong grunts of Ronny Thorsen and the beautiful clean vocals of Kjetil. Even the female vocals are back and that proved to be a good choice, because Emmanuelle Zoldan has a wonderful and versatile voice, which makes the music more atmospheric. Don't let the opening track "Deceptive Mirrors" misguide you, because "Existentia" has a lot more to offer than simple industrial metal. The album starts showing its real beauty with "Decadence Becomes Me", a song with a great chorus, and the next song "She Weaves Shadows" manages to impress as well. The songs dominated by female vocals, "Empty Room" and "Poisonous Tongues" are real highlights too and Emmannuele does a terrific job switching from sensual, jazzy vocals to opera. When the album also has great dynamics and a superb sound, I can only conclude that "Existentia" is the best album of Trail of Tears so far. Everybody happy. Right?

Not really, because the band is facing a severe crisis at the moment. Shortly before the release of the album and the upcoming Christmas Metal tour, all other band members left and only Ronny was left. A worse timing is obviously not possible, because the tour had to be cancelled and Ronny is all alone now, although he still wants to keep Trail of Tears alive and he's already busy looking for new members. On the other hand, such a controversy puts Trail of Tears in the publicity, so it might even have a positive effect on record sales. "Existentia" is definitely worth it!