A sonic twilight zone painted in black
After the incredible success of their previous debut album 'Opium Hearts', Kemi Vita and Roman Schoensee return to release their stunning new album created at 'Beautiful Lake Studios' by the name of 'Where Lost Souls Dwell'. Consisting of two members of the Dutch Gothic band The Dreamside, Bloodline have created the perfect soundtrack for the end of time with their stunning atmospheric and serene Gothic metal that cannot fail to lead you on an ethereal journey beyond the land of the living. To say that a band has a unique sound is often a contradiction as often the band will have taken a great deal of ideas and structural arrangement from their influences and used it to the extent of sounding similar to those bands. However, The Bloodline really do have a unique and incredible and innovative sound; powerful and unmistakably metal yet serene, romantic and almost hypnotic. The tracks have a perfect balance between strong guitar-riff based structures and atmospheric mood building melodic sound and have an ethereal and spiritual quality to them that symbolise the character and metaphors of life and death hidden behind the music. The album is truly beautiful, a journey that leads you to another world of enchantment and dark romanticism, the sound cloaking you in its lustrous and sinful beauty.
The opening track 'At The Waters Of Lethe' is beautifully dark and mysterious, opening on bass lead, heavy challenging guitar riffs full of power and intent. The vocals of Roman Schoensee have an almost animal-like quality to them as they growl and seethe over the boiling music bubbling below. This is in contrast with the far smoother, haunting but yet still slightly raspy vocals of Kemi, which do well to add a feminine and enchanting appeal to the music, making it calmer just in time to blend gently and almost without a trace into the following track. 'A Final Journey' is the serene and hypnotic untamed sound of the otherworlds and the spirituality of the night. Like a soul travelling on a redemption journey, this song is eerie and surreal, star-crossed and dipped in serenity. The synths do well to set a space-like, mystical atmosphere over which the guitars howl like wolves to the moon, almost in a very literal sense as the effects take on a very wolf-like vocal appeal. Roman and Kemi's vocals work in an oddly harmonious way during the chorus. Like beauty and the beast they are an unlikely combination that slowly grow to warm and work together with each other throughout the track, and the presence of Kemi's very haunting, otherworldly vocal work does amazingly well to add definition and beauty to music.
The tracks 'Of A False And Fallen Faith' and 'Remember' are the tragic romantics of the album. Blending perfectly together as if they were an answer to each other's questions, the two tracks back to back speak of heartbreak, loss and undying love even after death. 'Of A False And Fallen Faith' is the heavier yet more balanced of the two with the collaboration between bass and synth working harmoniously together to dominate the sound of the song and support the ethereal guitars delicately firmly like velvet cushion. The vocals of Kemi are chilling and remorseful, as a ghost of emotion in deep mourning it cloaks the music in its beautifully dark and morbid splendour. 'Remember' is much slower and gives much more of a lead to Kemi as a vocalist and really draws attention to the dark and romantic yet slightly frosty appeal of her vocal quality and the chilling, haunting echo of her vocals as the guitars and synths play decadently and solemnly before her. The last track 'Ocean In Flames' can be described as nothing other than completely and utterly beautiful, as guitars gently weep during the verses in a manner so delicate you could almost mistake them for harps. The synths decadently fall and sweep from note to minor note and flow effortlessly over haunting siren-like song from Kemi and an emotive, moving and driving guitar solo. The resulting sound is one that lays perfect tribute to the movement, sheer force and mystery of the ocean, one that paints its perfect picture through the art of sound. There are really no words that can describe the sheer dynamics of this album with any justice. The beauty of the sound, production and lyrical composition of this album is unsurpassable, it is truly innovative and unlike any other gothic metal material ever heard before. Hypnotic, haunting and mysterious it is the black rose among music, a rare but incredibly symbolic find.