Usually gothic pisses me off, like is the case with most of the Metalrage crew. But sometimes I sacrifice myself by reviewing an album in that genre. And sometimes, I get really pleasantly surprised, like is the case with Elis’s Griefshire, a band that hails from Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Never thought I’d heard metal from such a small country, but then again, my thoughts about such small countries have more than once been proven wrong.

 

I want to start this review by saying that this is fucking good stuff. And right after writing this previous sentence I discover from the bio and website that frontlady Sabine Duenser has passed away right after she sang her lyrics to Griefshire. That came out of nowhere! It gives this disc an eerie feeling actually, but I won't let it stand in my way of my judgement.

 

Damn man, what the fuck!? I was gonna say all kinds of great things about her voice, like that she doesn’t toy around with annoyingly high frequencies and she uses variation in a splendid way. I seriously doubt that they’ll find a woman of equal quality and good looks, but I sincerely hope they do. And the reason for that is because of the fact that they are able to write bombastic songs, hard and soft with a lot of variation and a high skill level. There is some excellent song writing involved on this album if I do say so myself. We have heavy riffs, driving drum beats, beautiful ballads and great vocals, all entangled with each other marvellously in this concept album. The concept being, and I quote; ‘the story of two brothers, their religious fanaticism, their search for salvation and their longing for eternal truth and love.’

 

Add some classical arrangements to their already great blend of gothic metal and you’ve got a brilliant release. This album shows me music on the level of bands like Nightwish and such. This is a definitive must have for every fan of gothic (metal) music. I just feel so sorry for them about beautiful Sabine. I hope they manage to overcome this horrible tragedy and continue to write good music. Rest in peace girl.