Warthur
Gothic music is a fragile thing. The whole affair lives or dies on the strength of the atmosphere and mood evoked by the music and, as in so many other genres of music, it is imperative that that atmosphere feels natural and sincere. If the mood of a piece feels artificial, stilted, forced or otherwise false in some respect, and if you don't have some intriguingly original or clever compositional or technical tricks to maintain interest, it all rather falls to pieces.
Such is the case with Lacrimosa's Fassade. Compositionally speaking, the music on here just isn't very interesting, consisting of rather bland rock music with the occasional metallic riff and orchestral elements constituting the album's attempt to win over a symphonic/gothic metal audience. However, those who have heard albums such as Inferno from Lacrimosa know what the real deal tastes like, and Fassade doesn't even pass muster as a faint imitation of the band's better work. To put it simply, it feels as though Lacrimosa are simply going through the motions here and are trying to hide it with a few production flourishes and extra boobs in the cover art. Nobody's fooled, guys.