ELUSIVE

Some may be surprised, but Norway is home not only to "true and evil" penguins — there is also a certain number of goths living there. Norway also has the splendid band THEATER OF TRAGEDY, from which these goths partially emerge. The group traces its origins all the way back to 1996, and the album under review is already their third. The Norwegians can also boast of sharing stages with Clan Of Xymox, Wolfsheim, Covenant, and other luminaries of the dark scene, but their main merit is that they are among the sadly few who to this day deliver classic guitar-oriented gothic rock, the kind their spiritual fathers — Sisters Of Mercy — played back in the distant '80s, although echoes of Bay Laurel can also be heard in their music. If one wished, they could be compared to 69 Eyes, but I have no desire to do so, because the Finns keep getting "softer" from album to album, whereas these Norwegian brothers deliver quite austere gothic rock with a clear pulsating rhythm, pleasant low male vocals, gothic rock filled with gentle melancholy (as befitting the style) and beautiful, sorrowful melodies. Applying subjective criteria, I would only slightly adjust the rhythm section, which — I repeat — in my subjective opinion sounds a bit dry. In all other respects, this release is excellent in every way, and I do not begrudge it a good score.