lukretion The Sins of Thy Beloved are among the early movers in the “beauty and the beast” gothic metal scene, kick-started by Theatre of Tragedy with their eponymous debut album in 1995. Based in the Stavanger area like many similar bands around the time (Theatre of Tragedy, but also Tristania and Dismal Euphony), the Norwegian ensemble released their debut album Lake of Sorrow in 1998 on Napalm Records, a label that in the second half of the 1990s specialized in this type of sound. Although The Sins of Thy Beloved and Tristania shared quite a few things in those early years of their existence, including record label, recording studios, producer (Terje Refsnes) and even a band member (violinist Pete Johansen), the band’s sound actually owes a larger debt to genre-forerunners Theatre of Tragedy than Tristania. In fact, I like to think of this amazing album as the deranged little brother of Theatre of Tragedy’s early records. But this should not be taken to mean that The Sins of Thy Beloved are simply a copycat of their more famous contemporaries: there’s plenty of original angles on Lake of Sorrow, which is partly what makes it such an iconic and acclaimed release.

The band’s sound draws on a combination of doom and death metal, with long-form compositions (between 6 and 9 minutes) that progress at a snail's pace amidst distorted power chords, cavernous growls, and crushingly slow tempos. As typical of the “beauty and the beast” aesthetics, the songs are based on the contrast between delicate and rough, acoustic and distorted, masculine and feminine. There are copious amounts of piano motifs and orchestral arrangements, reflecting the band’s unusual line-up, with two full-time keyboard players (Anders Thue and Ingfrid Stensland). This is counterbalanced by the heavily distorted sound of guitarists Glenn Nordbø and Arild Christensen, who, although they do not engage in a lot of riffing or soloing, build an effective wall of noise that envelops every song like a thick cloud of darkness. The band also employ both male and female vocalists. Anita Auglend provides operatic vocals that are feeble and whispery, as dictated by the genre’s conventions (think of a slightly weaker version of Theatre of Tragedy’s Liv Kristin). On nearly all songs her ethereal vocals are contrasted with brutal and toneless male growls. One distinctive aspect of The Sins of Thy Beloved is that they actually employ not one, but two male growlers (guitarists Glenn Nordbø and Arild Christensen). There is not a massive difference in their growl styles, but when they both growl simultaneously they produce a droning, guttural groan that is quite impressive and effective (see the first few minutes of opener “My Love”).

But the aspect of The Sins of Thy Beloved’s sound that is perhaps most distinctive is the prominent use of Pete Johansen’s violin. String instruments (cellos, violins) can often be found in other “beauty and the beast” albums (including Theatre of Tragedy’s debut), but rarely are they used so centrally in the music. On this album, often the violin takes on the role of the guitar, providing melodies, riffs and frequent solos which are absolutely mesmerizing to listen to. Johansen’s playing is so emotional and soulful that is hard not to be moved by it. There is also a lot of variation in the way he plays the instrument, going from freeform improv to more structured compositional form (for instance, on the title-track “Lake of Sorrow”). It’s an all-rounded performance that significantly elevates the album to a whole new level.

The violin also contributes to creating the special atmosphere that characterises the album. Lake of Sorrow may not be as lush and captivating as Theatre of Tragedy’s Velvet Darkness They Fear, or as catchy as Tristania’s Beyond The Veil, but it possesses a mystique and an underground allure that instantly captures the listener’s imagination. The “beauty and the beast” genre is riddled with albums that suffer from mannerism: everything is polished and sounds as it should, but there is a lack of visceral excitement and genuineness in the music that ultimately compromises the listening experience. Lake of Sorrow sits at the polar opposite: it’s rough, unpolished, badly produced, and it lacks that sort of commercial appeal that Tristania’s albums for example have. But it feels genuine, spontaneous and adventurous, as the band invite the listener to follow them into this rabbit hole of darkness and sluggish despair. It is very much like a car crash that is hard to look away from: ugly but fascinating.

There isn’t a bad song on this album, although there are several tracks that stand out as absolutely magnificent. Opener “My Love” is one of those. The guttural opening growls set immediately the mood, dark and cavernous. But the listener is instantly shocked as crazy violin flourishes steal the scene triggering a cacophony of sounds that almost reminds me of the iconic “21st Century Schizoid Man” by King Crimson. The track loses a bit of steam in its second half, but it nevertheless makes for a powerful beginning of the album. The following song “The Kiss” is made from a similar mold and features again fabulous violin interjections as well as a cool coda with double-bass drumming, keyboards and violin. The violin takes a slightly less prominent role in the second half of the album. “Lake of Sorrow” is a more restrained and polished composition that oscillates between 3/4 and 4/4 and ends in emphatic fashion. “Until the Dark” is perhaps the best song of the album. It is an emotional piece that only features Anita Auglend’s vocals in what is probably her best performance with the band. “All Alone” is another great song. Taken from the band’s EP of the previous year, it is an interesting piece that is driven by the piano and Anita’s voice (including a short recitation), before exploding in a powerful duet between growls and female vocals in the coda.

Some listeners may find that the poor sound quality of the album detracts somewhat from the overall listening experience. Although I am not overly disturbed (and to some extent I feel the lo-fi production contributes to the overall atmosphere), it is undeniable that the album’s production value is not great. There are passages in the songs where only the drums are clearly audible, while the keyboards and guitars from a sort of shapeless background drone. Anita’s voice also struggles to emerge from the mix occasionally. To the producer’s credit, this might have been a headache of an album to record, with two guitars, two keyboards, three singers and a violin. Yet, objectively the end result isn’t great.

Another aspect of the album some listeners may find bothersome are the lyrics. They are written in English, but clearly whoever wrote them was not very proficient with the language, so there are several glaring mistakes. The lyrics are also quite naïve and simplistic and one or two passages do make me cringe (like the line “If love is for real we might relive. All alone is not for real. Why don't you take me for real?” on the title-track). Again, I am not excessively bothered, but some readers might be.

Despite these small grievances, Lake of Sorrow is an excellent album and a great example of the “beauty and the beast” aesthetics that developed in the second half of the 1990s. The Sins of Thy Beloved may not have the polish or even the technical abilities of some of their competitors (Theatre of Tragedy, Tristania), but this albums stands out as something unique and exceptional. It has tons of atmosphere and possesses a spontaneity that is simply contagious. And then there’s Pete Johansen’s violin: if you think you know how to use violins in a metal production, put on this album and think again. Highly recommended!

lukretion The Sins of Thy Beloved are a Norwegian band from the Stavanger area that, like many other bands from that region, embraced the “beauty and the beast” gothic metal aesthetics in the second half of the 1990s. After releasing a highly acclaimed debut album called Lake of Sorrow, in 2000 the band returned to the studio and recorded their sophomore album, Perpetual Desolation. The debut LP is a thing of beauty. It is raw and unpolished, but has tons of character and atmosphere that manage to elevate the record well above the average of “beauty and the beast” productions of the time. The band’s second album is instead sorely disappointing. In a nutshell, everything that was good about the band’s debut has been washed out and replaced with a bland and insipid mixture of gothic and symphonic black metal à la Cradle of Filth. Unoriginal and uninspired.

The intentions were probably benign. The proliferation of “beauty and the beast” bands in the late 1990s forced many artists to try and push their musical boundaries in an attempt to stand out from the pack. My guess is that the band’s change of direction between Lake of Sorrow and Perpetual Desolation was their attempt at innovating and scaling-up their endeavors. Of course, I may be completely wrong and this may have just been a calculated attempt at riding the symphonic black/gothic metal phenomenon that was exploding around that time. Regardless of the motives, Perpetual Desolation is an album riddled with overblown and omnipresent keyboard arrangements that ride the whole gamut of what was trending at the time. Lush string and organ orchestrations, check. Eerie “atmospheric” sound effects, check. Electronic samples and loops, check. The keyboards completely dominate the album in the same overwhelming manner as they did, for example, on Dimmu Borigr’s Spiritual Black Dimensions. The guitars, which in truth were already not so prominent on the band’s debut album, completely disappear in the background, chugging away their harmless power chords song after song. This gives the album a very light but at the same time busy feel, which is largely responsible for ruining the listening experience for me.

The only thing that I like worse than the keyboard arrangements on this album is the vocals. The Sins of Thy Beloved follow the “beauty and the beast” convention of employing both male and female vocalists on their albums. Anita Auglend provides those ethereal operatic vocals that are a trademark sign of the genre (think of a slightly weaker version of Theatre of Tragedy’s Liv Kristin). Perhaps unexpectedly, the band also employs two male vocalists (guitarists Glenn Nordbø and Arild Christensen), who are both growlers. Their performance is clearly influenced by Cradle of Filth. The album features all those various types of growls that one can find on the British band’s records, from black metal shrieks to guttural death metal groans, to filtered “malign” whispers, to ominous spoken croons. The problem is: neither of these vocal styles sound particularly good on this album. Yet, they are literally all over the record. As the keyboards, the male vocals are omnipresent in each and every song, and poor Anita is forced to play a much more backing role compared to the debut album.

The whirlwind of vocal styles and keyboard extravaganza is complemented by a schizophrenic songwriting, with complex song structures, tempo changes, and constant variation of moods and atmospheres. Unfortunately, the band’s ambitions are not matched by smooth execution. The various sections do not flow well into one another. The end result is rather messy and cacophonous, leaving the listener with very few moments that truly work on the album. Even Pete Johansen’s violin, which on the debut album had played a major role in making the music feel so special and unique, on Perpetual Desolation sounds out of place and in constant competition with the overwhelming orchestral arrangements. The magic that Johansen’s violin managed to conjure up on Lake of Sorrow is completely gone, and with it most of The Sins of Thy Beloved’s mystique and allure.

Among the (few) positive notes, the sound production has clearly improved compared to the debut album and the lyrics are written more competently, even if they are still nothing to particularly write home about. I struggle to find specific songs that stand out in a positive way or have some redeeming features. Perhaps the opener “The Flame of Wrath” is the most interesting track of the album, but it might well be that this is because it’s the first song and my sense of annoyance and disappointment with the album is still bearable at this point. However, a couple of tracks stand out in a negative way. I have to mention the particularly messy and directionless “Partial Insanity” and especially Metallica’s cover “The Thing That Should Not Be”, which is literally butchered here.

As it is probably clear from the rest of the review, this album was a huge disappointment for me. I consider The Sins of Thy Beloved’s debut album one of the best in the “beauty and the beast” gothic metal genre. It’s spontaneous, interesting and with a unique sound. This album is just the complete opposite. It feels forced and affected. It is less than underwhelming and sounds like a badly faded copy of a Cradle of Filth’s record. Perpetual Desolation is the last studio album released by The Sins of Thy Beloved in their career. They will release one final live album in 2001 before disbanding. It is sad that the band fizzled out of the music scene with such a subpar release. I vastly prefer to remember them with the sound of their truly impressive debut album.

Soul Dreamer Searching for the "ultimate" beaty and the beast album? Search no further, you found it here. Anita has an angelical voice, which makes this album a pleasure to listen to. The melodies are very strong, and haunting. The musicianship is perfect. The trademark of this album though is not the vocals, but the incredably beautiful violin play of Pete Johansen, which make this a unique album. The "beast" vocals are well done, and don't scare away someone who doesn't like them a lot. Highlights are "My love", which starts with a huge grunt, but develops after that into a beautiful violin driven song, "Until the Dark" which is the only song with clean vocals and "All Alone". The rest is also beautiful... You won't see the terms "lovely" and "beautiful" uttered on a metal site in one review, but here they come together. Five well deserved stars for this great album!

Warthur Whilst The Sins of Thy Beloved's debut album was an archetypal work in the "beauty and the beast" style of gothic metal, their second album was a stereotypical one. The differences are subtle, admittedly, and may well come down a matter of taste, but whilst to my ears the debut album was an example of the beauty and the beast formula applied perfectly and showcasing all the best aspects of that sound, the second album applies the formula slavishly and exhibits only the typical qualities of that sound.

It's a thin difference, I admit, and those who particularly fell in love with the first album may well find plenty to like here, but I can't listen to this one without wanting to just stop and go back to the debut again.

Warthur The debut album by The Sins of Thy Beloved is an archetypal example of the "beauty and the beast" approach to gothic metal: take clean female vocals from Anita Auglend, add death metal grunts from Glenn Nordbø, and lay it over doomy gothic metal and serve with romantic and depressing lyrics. Sins spice up the formula markedly with the inclusion of Pete Johansen in the lineup on violin, his beautiful violin lines essentially being the musical counterpart to Anita's vocals which serve as a neat counterpoint to the doomy riffs the songs are built on. If you like this style of metal at all, you'll probably love this.