Customer Reviews

Touch in the Dark

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Some of you already know this but I seem to gravitate to female vocals. Oh, I like male vocalists just fine but given the choice between a good song with a female or male vocalist, assuming the songs have equal appeal, I tend to choose the female. That is why I try to get a listen to every new Fem-fronted band I hear about from New Age to Symphonic Melodic Metal.

Asrai is neither as they fall into a category that I would have to say is Melodic Hard Rock, with a touch of Punk. I had never heard of this band before and I certainly wasn't going to be able so to hear a sample by downloading it, so I bought it. Another good thing about this album, beside just being good, is that it won't break the piggy bank. I stole this baby for about the price of a supersized quarter pounder w/cheese combo and it's a lot healthier.

Asrai is a Dutch Band consisting of three gals and two guys, that have been around since 1989. Yeah that's right, the girls outnumber the boys. They consist of Margriet Mol (vocals), Twin Karin Mol (drums), Manon van der Hidde (synths and violin), Rik Janssen (Guitar), Martin Kooy (Bass and backing vocals). Margriet has a powerful midrange voice. Asrai are small, fragile, female sprite type beings who turn to a puddle of water when they are captured or exposed to sunlight but let me tell you the is nothing small or diminutive about their music.

Touch In the Dark

I believe Touch In the Dark is the bands second album. The bad news is that only half the songs are five star. The good news is that the other half run between four and five stars. Oddly on the first song, "In Front of Me" Margariet, the singer, sounds like Cindy Lauper. It has a medium tempo and is quite accessible and would be right at home on a top forty or alternative station, except it's almost five minutes long. (41/2 stars) "Pale Light" is a medium slow, strong power ballad with powerful vocals As with most of the songs there are some strong drums, courtesy of sister Karin. The melody is catchy, especially the chorus. (5 stars) The next song "Whisper" reminds me of Garbage. It is a medium to medium slow paced number with a slight industrial sound. (4 stars) "Restless" is a medium speed rock number with double bass drums and a catchy arrangement. There is also some interesting guitar work on this song as well.(5 stars) At the half way mark we have the title track, "Touch in the Dark" another pleasant power ballad with lots of background singing and lots of emotion from Margariet. (41/2 stars)

"Tower" is a true ballad and a beautiful one it is too. This has an inspirational melody and the delivery by Margariet is sublime. At six plus minutes, it`s also the longest song on the album. (5 stars) Hard rock is back with a vengeance with "Dream", a variable paced but mostly medium fast piece with powerful reverberated vocals by Margariet. (41/2 stars) Another song I like a lot is "Child". It is a song that is sometimes a ballad and sometimes rock but always with the constant of Margariet`s exceptional vocals. (5 stars) It is followed by "Garden", a slow to medium slow power ballad, that has what it takes to stay in your mind for a long time. (5 stars) "Shadows" at only 3:22 is the shortest song on the CD. It is a straight forward medium paced number with a distinct beat and some unusual sound effects. All in all it's fairly catchy (4 stars)

CONCLUSION

I am very impressed by singer Margriet Mol. She adds another dimension to the songs, which seem good, even great but would surely not be as good with another singer. She carries the mood of the songs and really belts them out. As far as belters go she's in the class of Canada's Ann Wilson of Heart fame and Poland's Paulina Maslanka and Medeah of Delight and Artrosis fame respectively. And let's not forget Amy Lee either. As far as the song writing and lyrics go, are in my opinion, superb. All songs were written by the sisters and the arrangements are excellent as well.

If You think I sound excited about this album, You are right. It's got just the right mix of what I like Gothic and Pop/mainstream. If I was to make a comparison I would have to think Evanescence, Garbage and Lacuna Coil come to mind. Now Asrai doesn't really sound like any of them but more like a mixture of the three.

There is some big talent here folks, so don't miss out for a quarter pounder and fries.

It's amazing what a simple cd cover can do. Awhile back I came upon the gorgeous art work for Asrai's "Touch in the Dark" cd. I had never heard of the band but I liked the cover art. I eventually got a copy of "Touch in the Dark". The first thing that came to my mind when I started listening to the cd was how much I was reminded of The Dreamside, especially Margriet Mol's powerful vocals. Margriet has a distinct voice that is rarely heard in the gothic metal genre. I could also hear slight touches of Siouxsie & Sioux. Asrai may not offer anything new to the genre of gothic metal but they certainly have made a good solid rock album which mixes both goth and metal. The first five tracks on "Touch in the Dark" are excellent but unfortunately after the fifth track, the band loses its momentum and the songs starts to sound the same. Production is a step above The Dreamside's current cd but not by much. It could use some improvement or the band could use a better producer. The sound isn't that clear or pristine as say Nightwish's immaculate "Once" cd. All in all though, "Touch in the Dark" will satisfy any goth metal fan.

Asrai is a great band. They have been making music before there were Within Temptation, After Forever or Epica. However this is just their second album.

This is one of my favorite albums already. Their music sounds awesome, with Margriet's clear voice and the melancholy..

The best songs on the album are: Pale Light and Shadows.

Yeah, Asrai definitely deserves a place next to The Gathering and After Forever.

Asrai is:
Margriet Mol - Vocals
Martin Kooy - Bass
Manon van der Hidde - Synth - Violin
Karin Mol - Drums
Rik Janssen - Guitar

I always enjoy Asrai's music. The vocals, synthesizers, and lyrics create a heavy and intense mood to each song. Margriet Mol has a powerful voice.
She reminds me just a little of Doro Pesch (from Warlock, another one of my favorite classic 80's vocalists). Each song on Touch Of the Dark is good.
Restless, Touch in the Dark,Tower, and Shadows are stand out songs. Tower is a mesmerizing ballad.

This is a five star product

I find it funny, how, when you search something such as Epica on eBay, you get results including CD's from a slew of other female-fronted metal/rock bands because the seller put the word "Epica" in the name of the item so all the people searching for Epica would see it. Annoying as that it is, that's how I first heard about Asrai (and a bunch of other bands). Among all the albums and artists I learned about on eBay through an entirely un-related search, Asrai and Morning sounded the most appealing right off hand, so I quickly went and listened to some samples. I wasn't so sure about the Morning samples (and am still not, though I now own a CD by them...), but I absolutely fell in love with the samples Asrai had on their website - I ordered the album "Touch In The Dark" a few days later, received it 4 weeks later, and now, 2 months later, I am still very pleased.

Asrai is a Goth Rock band that consists of five members, two women and two men, and has been around since the late 1980's. It was founded by the singer and the drummer (Margriet and Karin Mol, respectively), who are twin sisters. The music is very unique, and has a lot of different touches which makes it interesting (such as metal, pop, punk rock, wave, etc.), and though I wouldn't really consider any of the songs particularly "fast", the album contains a kind of "fun", poppy sound while still remaining dark - perfect! They're a breath of fresh air when listened to in conjunction with a bunch of other female-fronted bands, many of which maintain of more solemn sound (which I like too of course, but it's nice to have a variety). All the band members are really talented, and the vocals are fantastic! They have all female vocals - no grunts here (though there are on very rare occasion some male vocals in the background). The sound itself is rather addicting as well. The lyrics are good too - and are perfectly "wholesome" (- no profanity, nothing religiously offensive, no drugs, no sexual content, etc.) so you don't have to worry about the lyrics distracting you or detracting from your enjoyment. Here's the track-listing and a bit of a glance at each song:

1. In Front Of Me: (4.5/5) A very unique sounding, fun song. I like the short, somewhat ethereal intro to this song, and the aggressive ending as well. The vocals are impressive and the beat is catchy - overall a great opener. The second single released, I believe.

2. Pale Light: (4/5) I love the opening and the verses! - But I find the chorus a bit monotonous and repetitive. I like the rhythm and beats in the first two verses (and the one after the first chorus) especially. I think this was their first single.

3. Whisper: (3.5/5) Okay, but probably my least favorite song on the album. The slight industrial touches and the dark beat is cool, but for some reason I just find this song a bit dull.

4. Restless: (5/5) Easily one of the best songs on the album! The song is brilliantly composed - it's not repetitive, it's of varying intensities, and powerful and pretty. I love the feel of this song! Its a great dance song as well.

5. Touch In The Dark: (4.5/5) A beautiful power ballad with a very mystic quality. It also has a bit of acoustic guitar in it and great vocals. I really like the part later on where it slows down and the vocals are almost spoken word.

6. Tower: (5/5) A very melodic, dark, soothing ballad - brilliant! Margriet's vocals are amazing! The song is very slow and ambient, but all the same, because of the vocals and background effects the song remains powerful. This song is very unique as well.

7. Dream: (4/5) Second to least favorite song on the album, but still good. I don't know, it just doesn't seem to quite fit with the other songs on the CD atmospherically. It's probably one of the faster one's though.

8. Child: (4/5) Starts off with a bang, but slows down relatively quickly. This song has some neat effects, and is quite dark, but I find it just a bit repetitive. I really like the last verse though, and the angry sounding ending to the song.

9. Garden: (4.5/5) This song really works for me - not quite sure why. I love the rhythm and the chorus! Again, some really cool effects are applied close to the second verse. I really like the lyrics for this song as well. Awesome song!

10. Shadows: (4/5) Great closing song! It actually picks up the pace quite a bit, and is the shortest song on the album (at 3:21). Overall it just sounds a bit different, but the swift, more upbeat style of this song actually works as a perfect ending!

All in all I highly recommend this to any female-fronted metal fan (despite the fact that this is Gothic Rock - it still works!) looking for something a bit different, refreshing, and fun. I also suggest checking out the samples on their website (samples range in length from about 50 seconds to a little over 2 minutes, they have them for I believe about 6 songs) if they sound even remotely interesting to you - it's a great way to decide if you want the album!

I had heard Asrai about 6 months ago, and was unfortunately turned off by them at first because the vocals in their first song were a bit pitchy and didnt sound too great over the computer. Just a few days ago, I came across the CD for only 3 dollars! So I figured I'd give it another chance being that it was only three dollars. I found out my first impression was definitely wrong. The CD is really great and ended up being better than the other CD I purchased along with it!! The singer's vocals also are a lot better sounding in the other songs, so it isnt a problem if you are dreading what I said earlier. Great CD overall.

This is an awesome combo. I'd say Tori Amos like vocal stylings coupled with rockin' metal

This Dutch unit have sucessfully recaptured the sound of the early LPs of Siouxie & the Banshees (ie "The Scream", "Ju Ju") and updated it for the Within Temptation/ Sins of Thy Beloved crowd. These even sound like "Kalidascope"-era Banshees titles: "whisper", "touch in the dark", "shadows"... Lead singer Margriet Mal effectivly brings Siousie's wail in the 2000s! Play this back-to-back with "Once Upon A Time" for comparison.