lukretion Midwinter Tears is a compilation of three different Tristania’s early releases that was put together by Napalm Records in 2005. The three albums are Tristania’s first demo, dating back to 1997, the single Angina from 1999 and the video Widow's Tour also from 1999. Needless to say, this is good value for money as some of these releases are quite hard to find nowadays.

The demo Tristania (that also goes by the alternate title Midwinter Tears) is comprised of four songs. Two of these were re-recorded for Tristania’ first full-length album Widow’s Weeds. These are “Midwinter Tears” and the beautiful “Pale Enchantress”. The differences relative to the full-length album aren’t massive, bar the inferior production which is a tad too muddy and dirty for my taste. These songs give nevertheless a great overview of how talented Tristania were from the very onset of their career. The late 1990s saw many bands purveying the “beauty and the beast” formula that Theatre of Tragedy had contributed to popularize a few years earlier. Many of these bands will not stand the test of time and have gone down in metal history as pale imitators of the leaders in the genre. Tristania instead are widely considered one of the best bands in this style of music, and the 1997 demo clearly shows why. Their special blend of doom/death/gothic metal is highly melodic, yet heavy and with the right amount of teeth. The contrast between heavily distorted guitars and symphonic arrangements is enthralling and so is the juxtaposition between Morten Veland’s harsh growls and Vibeke Stene’s operatic clean vocals, which are very expressive and full of pathos. “Pale Enchantress” is a great example of this, as it will also be one of the best tracks of the full-length album.

The other two songs on the demo are part of Widow’s Weeds and may therefore be more interesting to fans. One is a short and fairly interlocutory symphonic prelude that opens the demo with some moody ambiance but does little else to excite the earbuds. “Cease to Exist”, the last song of the demo, is more interesting. It is a moody and atmospheric piece where Vibeke takes the spotlight with a histrionic performance, mixing whispered spoken words and operatic vocals. The structure of the song is slightly meandering and probably the song is too long for its own sake. It is clearly inferior to the two tracks that made it on the full-length debut, but it is nevertheless interesting as it foreshadows the more gothic and atmospheric sound that Tristania will develop later on in their career.

The single Angina is comprised of three tracks, two taken from Tristania’s sophomore album Beyond the Veil. The improvement in terms of sound and style is massive and the two songs included here, “Angina” and an edited version of “Opus Relinque” are witness to this. Both show how Tristania quickly managed to carve their own niche in the beauty and the beast genre, by mixing influences from gothic rock and black metal, as well as from the more traditional doom/death sound. “Angina” well deserves its status as single as it is one of the best tracks from Beyond the Veil. It contains a very striking and memorable melody on the chorus (sung by Vibeke) that creates a mighty contrast with the song’s melodic black metal influences and Morten’s powerful growls. “Opus Relinque” is another great track that on the full-length album develops in a progressive metal monster of over 6 minutes. The edited version included here cuts down the running time by about a minute, reducing somewhat the strong impact the track has on me when I listen it in full. It remains nevertheless a great song, with particularly rich dynamics and contrasts between the black/death metal parts and intermezzos where nearly all instruments disappear, making room for some haunting choir singing. The remaining song, “Saturnine”, is a short outro with some eerie electronica, spoken vocal and symphonic keyboards that show once again the forward-thinking nature of this great band.

The second disc of this compilation is a DVD containing the video recording of a live show from the Widow’s Weeds tour. The live show was recorded in Oberwart, Austria. The video and sound quality are decent enough for their time, but are not exactly transcendental. Tristania was still at the beginning of their career back then and so the budget for such a live recording was probably not very large. The place where they played was also pretty small and the six band members are crammed on the stage with not much room for any type of action that would allow them to increase their scenic presence. The result is a fairly flat performance in terms of visual impact. Sonically, however, the band is on top form and the playing is very strong. The selection of tracks from Widow’s Weeds is also good, with “My Lost Lenore” and “Pale Enchantress” clear highlights.

Overall, if you are a fan of the band, Midwinter Tears is a worthy addition to your Tristania’s collection. It has historical value as it gathers together recordings from the band’s early days that are hard to come by today. The quality of the recordings and video are not always amazing, but these are the late 1990s and Tristania were just beginning their career, so some rough edges in the production are to be expected. But taken as a documentary of the band’s beginnings, this is a very solid and valuable release.

lukretion Released in 2001, World of Glass is the third full-length album of symphonic gothic metal band Tristania. The band went through a small but significant line-up shakeup just before the recording of the album, when singer, guitarist and main songwriter Morten Veland separated from the band due to personal and musical differences. Although many feared his departure would have potentially earth-shattering consequences for the band, the new album does not show any signs of strain or weakness from the band, as we will see shortly. However, Morten’s departure did leave Tristania without someone able to perform extreme vocals, which led the band to enlist the help of Trial of Tears’ growler Ronny Thorsen, who appears as a guest musician on this record. The rest of the line-up is unchanged relative to the band’s earlier albums, with Vibeke Stene providing soprano-like vocals, keyboardist Einar Moen and guitarist Anders H. Hidle taking charge of most of the songwriting, and drummer Kenneth Olsson and bassist Rune Østerhus forming a steady and groovy rhythm section. Guest singers Østen Bergøy and Jan Kenneth Barkved contribute clean vocals and Pete Johansen (The Sins of Thy Beloved) adds his unmistakable violin flourishes.

What is not unchanged, though, is the band’s musical direction. Tristania have never been afraid to experiment and push the boundaries of the symphonic gothic metal genre already in the early years of their career, but this album is perhaps the band’s first significant point of departure from the genre’s typical sound. This takes the form of an injection of multiple disparate influences, from industrial metal, to electronica, to the liquid, vaguely Floydian gothic rock of bands like Tiamat. There are also hints of avant-garde metal, bringing to mind the likes of Arcturus and Ulver. These multitude of influences are all weaved into the band’s trademark brand of “beauty and the beast” gothic metal that plays on dramatic shade-and-light contrasts, enhanced by the alternation between operatic female vocals and male vocals (both blackened growls and clean gothic croon) and by the inclusion of symphonic elements through the use of keyboards, string instruments, and choirs. It makes for a varied and exciting ride, as the listener is never quite sure where the album is taking them next.

The quality of the compositions is high throughout. There is complexity and depth in Tristania’s music, well beyond the simple verse-chorus structure one can find in many albums of lesser bands in the genre. Most songs exceed the 6-minute mark, and go through a number of twists and turns on their journey. Yet, Tristania have a great ear for catchy melodies and manage to insert at least one or two memorable hooks in nearly each song. This makes the music easy to like and assimilate. I consider the combination of complexity and accessibility one of the hallmarks of great music, and World of Glass certainly excels in this domain.

The album is a treasure trove of interesting and exciting musical ideas. The alien-sounding vocal melodies that appear on the chorus of “Hatred Grows” never fail to leave me blissfully open-mouthed. Subtle electronic arrangements give songs like “Lost” and “Selling Out” a very modern feel, halfway between Samael, Therion and Arcturus, while towards the end of “Crushed Dreams” Tristania experiment with a surprising combination of techno groove and operatic choir. “Tender Trip on Earth” is a gorgeous gothic anthem, featuring a great clean vocal performance by Østen Bergøy. Meanwhile, “Deadlocked” dances between Vibeke’s beautiful vocal melodies, free-form violin soloing, and a hallucinated avant-garde male choir. But it is on “Wormwood” that the album perhaps reaches its highest point. This is a complex track moving back and forth between elegant Carmina Burana-like choirs, emotional violin solos, blackened sections with some great deep growls by Ronny Thorsen, and Vibeke’s stunning clean singing.

Vibeke’s performance on this album is nothing short of amazing. Among the many soprano-like vocalists that populated the line-ups of many gothic/romantic bands, Vibeke stands out as one of the most expressive and talented singers. She is able to perfectly modulate her voice to fit the various moods of the song, from ethereal operatic vocals, to Kate Bush-like dramatic upper register singing (“The Shining Path”), to warm mid-range vocals (“Deadlocked”). The rest of the band is no less impressive. The contribution of keyboardist Einar Moen deserves special praise, though. His arrangements are always so tasteful and interesting as he juggles with everything his instrument can play, from futuristic out-of-space sounds, to trippy programmed loops, to 70s-infused swathes of Hammond (“Tender Trip on Earth”). Truly captivating stuff!

If there is one thing that I find slightly unfortunate about this album is the production. Listening to World of Glass in 2021, it is clear that the album has not aged as well as it could have given the quality and forward-thinking nature of the music, and the reason is that it suffers from a slightly dated and subpar production. The thin drums and tinny guitars, in particular, make the album feels somewhat plasticky. As I listen to it, I keep wishing for more sonic depth and more power.

Other than that, World of Glass is a pretty awesome album. If gothic metal is your poison of choice, you simply must give this album a spin. It encapsulates everything there is to like about the genre, from the excellent combination of male/female vocals, to the alternation between gently acoustic parts and heavy, hard-hitting sections, to tasteful symphonic arrangements. It also offers more than one breath of fresh air, by subtly incorporating a wide range of influences, from electronica, to industrial metal, to avant-garde metal. The end result is a varied and exciting record that takes the right amount of creative risk to sound different, while staying true to the band’s roots. Highly recommended!

Warthur Tristania are yet another "Beauty and the Beast" band in the gothic metal genre, though for my money I think Beyond the Veil is a pretty decent example of its form. Building on the solid but otherwise unremarkable foundation of their debut album, the band clearly listened to a whole bunch of symphonic black metal in the intervening time, because you have mild influences of that sweeping, melodramatic style coming into play here. When you combine that with a better production job, an increased confidence in the studio, and somewhat more polished compositions, you end up with quite an enticing package, and certainly an album worth going for if you dig this particular niche.

Warthur A decent gothic metal album here with doomy overtones, enjoyable vocals from Vibeke, and some orchestral flourishes to add a touch of class to proceedings. The album shows a slightly more varied sound than your average Beauty and the Beast-styled Theatre of Tragedy imitator, with Angellore sounding more like an eccentric Fields of the Nephilim or Sisters of Mercy off-cut with guest vocalist Østen Bergøy taking the lead on some Andrew Eldritch-ish clean male vocals (Vibeke switching to backing vocals for one song). (Would that make this "Beauty and the Beauty and the Beast" metal?) Not an album to shake the gothic world to its foundations, but a fun time regardless.

H. Siedler This is a very dark and beautiful album!

Vibeke is a great singer! Her voice, full of colors, mixing softness and power, is the main thing in here. The instrumental is very simple, and counts with violin solos (which are awesome) instead of guitar solos. I think the better thing about this album is the way it works as a whole. No overreact, no virtuosism, no excess. The lyrics are amazing! The bad side in this work is the lack of surprises. The way it starts is the way it ends.

Do you like sad and dark songs? Do you like simple (but beautiful) arrangements? So listen to this album!