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| Tvangeste | mp3.com/Tvangeste |
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Golden Lake Productions (91/100): "Hailed as the best band in Russia and with over 5000 copies of this album already sold in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, I was expecting big things from this band. And to say that I was suitably impressed on 1st listen would be a major understatement. This band will blow away all competition in the symphonic black metal arena. If you were to take all the best parts of Cradle of Filth, Bal-Sagoth and Dimmu Borgir and throw them together then you can imagine how Tvangeste sound. The musical complexity and song writing intelligence is simply breathtaking with excellent orchestrated keyboards weaving in and out of the guitars and varied vocals (screams, growls, spoken, male and female). I was hooked from start to finish as I was mesmerised by the rich musical textures caressing my eardrums. The production is top notch as well, therefore, accentuating the elegant prowess of this band. This is one of those albums that sounds better and better with each listen and you’ll hear something different each time. All Hail Tvangeste!!" The Metal Reviews Archive (5.5/6): "'Damnation Of Regiomontum' is the debut of the Russian black metal act Tvangeste. After having sold 5.000 copies of it in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, they've signed with Norwegian record label Valgalder, who are releasing the album all over the world. What kind of black metal then, symphonic? yes, but not like all the other bands. Tvangeste plays mid-tempo metal with synths, black screech vocals and female opera vocals, but they have their very own sound ... The guitarplaying varies from catchy rhythmic riffs to melodic tremolo picking and beautiful solos. The synths take place in intros and outros, and on the pieces where it's used in the music it's mostly mixed just below or on the same level as the guitars, seldomly dominating. It adds another layer of melody and beauty to the music with its piano, organ, various atmospheric pads and majestic pieces. The band also uses real violins and cellos, but mostly for intros. Vocally, there are grim black screeches that fit well into the sound of Tvangeste, as well as female opera vocals. These sound very professional and are used in appropriate doses through the album. The compositions of 'Damnation Of Regiomontum' are as mentioned all mid-tempo. This could be considered as a bad point, but actually it works out pretty good because of the variation and complexity of the songs. There are no songs here shorter than 8 minutes, and the longest lasts for 13 minutes, but fortunately Tvangeste are skilled songwriters. A catchy song of rhythmic straight-forward riffs might fade over into a beautiful solo, and then again over to an atmospheric piece with female vocals and melodic guitars, then back to catchy straight-forward riffs again. It doesn't even sound like interludes (although there are a few interludes here too), the music flows naturally through different phases. 'Damnation Of Regiomontum' shows a band of skilled musicians with good songwriting abilities. It is, no doubt, a strong album, but although the variation is good, it gets a bit alike towards the end of the album. There are no weak songs, here, but Tvangeste seem to repeat the same ideas a bit too many times. A surprise or two on the last couple of songs wouldn't hurt. Still: This is one hell of an album!" Arising Realm Magazine (9.5/10): "Russland gehört für mich zum weißen Fleck auf meiner ganz persönlichen Hartmetallischen Landkarte. Bis auf ein paar Demos, die ich von ein paar lokalen Underground-Bands erhielt, bekam ich bis heute nichts Brauchbares zugeschickt. Tvangeste versuchen nun mich vom Gegenteil zu überzeugen, was ihnen mit einem Hammeralbum wie „Damnation Of Regiomontum" nur allzu leicht fallen dürfte. Das besondere an dieser herausragenden Formation ist die Tatsache, das Tvangeste absolut nicht „östlich" klingen. Deren Mischung aus midtempolastigem Dark Metal mit Black- und Doom-Anleihen wird dermaßen tight vorgetragen, dass man annehmen könnte, die Jungs und das Mädel wären schon ewig im Musikgeschäft. Das ist im Grund auch gar nicht verwunderlich, die Band wurde Mitte ´96 gegründet. Zudem ist Tvangeste nicht deren erste Band, sondern alle waren schon vorher in einigen anderen Bands beschäftigt. „Damnation Of Regiomontum" strotzt nur so vor Spielwitz und musikalischer Raffinesse. Obwohl alle Songs Überlänge besitzen schaffen unsere russischen Freunde das Unmögliche und halten selbst bei einer Spieldauer von knapp 12 Minuten die Spannung hoch. Leider, und das kostet die restlichen zwei Punkte, besitzt dieses Juwel „nur" 5 Songs (von knapp einer Stunde Spielzeit), zudem fällt der Sound stark ab, weshalb der Band viel an Power verloren geht. Nicht auszudenken, wie gut „DOR" mit einer professionelleren Produktion klingen würde. Von den Russen wird man in Zukunft bestimmt noch hören. Für „DOR" besteht absolute Kaufpflicht! Außerdem kann man auf deren Website die gesamte Platte downloaden, riskiert einen Blick auf www.tvangeste.com." Edge of Time Magazine (4/5): "Geography often adds its touch to the music, and bands coming from regions that are relatively unknown in metal often show bigger hearts than their counterparts from everyday metal places. Tvangeste are one of the few -- if not the only -- black metal bands from Kaliningrad, Russia, and their debut album is dedicated to their ancient land Prussia, which doesn't exist anymore. While Tvangeste, unlike many ex-USSR dark metal bands, do not incorporate folk influences into their music, their black metal does not sound like a second-rate copy of Cradle of Filth or Dimmu Borgir. Tvangeste do not have riffs as intense as the later works of the mentioned bands, but they convey more feel with their music. Songs definitely tend to the epic side (the albums lasts 50 minutes but contains only 5 songs) and are more melodic than aggressive; keyboards, pianos, violins are used but not overused. "Damnation of Regiomontum" doesn't knock you down, and it leaves a lot of room for the band where to go in the future, but it is a well-prepared and finished piece of work, as well as a good black-metal artifact." Tartarean Desire Webzine (8/10): "Luckily all black metal bands of today don't follow the same old path of play-as-fast-as-you-can and the be-as-evil-as-possible concept. Tvangeste is a Russian band who has dared to cross the borders and create interesting black metal with a different sound. They still have the raspy vocals and the pounding drum machine but in addition they also have female soprano vocals, cellos, violins, symphonic keyboards and beautiful pianos. Most of the music is not as fast as most black metal bands and there are plenty of slower passages with nice melodic work and spoken verse. They do have clear influences from Cradle Of Filth but I don't think they have tried to copy their sound, at least they don't sound like a CoF clone. It's hard to describe the Tvangeste sound because they are not simply a black metal band (if you care to look beyond the vocals that is...). Their music is kind of like a mix of doom and black metal, classical music and some Iced Earth riffing. This is one of the most interesting new black metal acts out there and I´m very curious to see what they can achieve with their next album where they will take use of a symphony orchestra and a church choir." Musica Must Die Magazine (9.5/10): "This Russian band is the year's greatest newcomer. An album full of emotional and atmospheric feelings which can make you go crazy! All in all very interesting music. Slavonic symphonic Black metal swarmed with doom inspired melodies. Excellent keyboards, guitar sections, and a furious Black metal rhythm. This album includes 5 tracks and each of them is a potential hit. Many different styles of music are incorporated here with many tempo changes and guitar solos. The lyrics are in standard English but there are several Russian passages in some songs. Tvangeste has a chance to be a dominate force in the world of Black metal. We'll wait and see!"
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