Gothic horror would be something I’d associate with Swedish band Tribulation but as they proved when releasing “Children of the Night” (2015), my favourite of theirs, and “Down Below” (2018), each album is a varied metal experience. “Where the Gloom Becomes Sound” is their fifth album.
Sure enough this album starts spookily before drums roll and thunder rumbles. The vocalist growls menacingly. “In Remembrance” is a dark well-constructed song with a heartbeat and a soul which you feel Tribulation are going to want to cut away. Nice guitar work characterises “Hour of the Wolf”, a solidly dark rock song. The ringing riffs remind me a bit of the Finnish goth metallers Entwine, while the growls and melodic metal style are reminiscent of Insomnium and Omnium Gatherum. Everything points to gothic gloom with twists of melody. Sometimes the gothic gloom is at the forefront, as on the macabre “Dirge of a Dying Soul” and melancholic “Lethe”. I felt we needed a pick up at this point, and Tribulation manage just that with the lively beat of “Daughter of the Djinn”. As a song, it develops nicely. “Elementals”, which follows, is in a similar mould but doesn’t seem to have the same character. “Inanna” would be suitable for a funeral, which conveniently leads to the vibrancy and fiery metal mix of “Funeral Pyre”. The album finishes with the outwardly flamboyant “The Wilderness” but strangely for such a melodic piece, I found it a difficult listen.
Although “Where The Gloom Becomes Sound” undoubtedly does justice to its dark theme, and both the instrumental and sound structures are of good quality, the impact of the songs on me was up and down. It’s good that there’s variety in the songs. Some are overtly upbeat, some are the opposite end. When I listen to this again, I’ll do so as a complete album but I suspect that after that I’ll be picking out the memorable songs and omitting the others. Anyone who is completely into this gothic metal atmosphere and the “myth and magic” which are at its heart will have a ball with it, I suspect.
(7/10 Andrew Doherty)
Leave a Reply