Customer Reviews

World of Glass

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I don't want to repeat to much of what has already been said: it is an album unlike the previous two - that's absolutely true. but is it any worse? I guess it's just a matter of taste, but I thoroughly appreciated variations of this kind. First off, the music became more diverse, and while there are still plenty of moments a-la Beyond The Vail, there are plenty of other styles mixed in here - and they are matched beautifully. Second off, to reply to those who complain that the band has changed too much to like it, I'd say that the band has simply matured and grown in all aspects (and besides, previous two albums have pretty much exhausted all reasonable variations on the theme, so something had to change - it's absulutely inevitable) Now, let me be clear: I'm a very big fan of both Widow's Weeds, and Beyond..., and all dark gothic music alike, and think Tristania's got the best of it, and especiallly so with this release.
The mood now is a bit lighter : as one reviewer rightfully noted, the "pain" is gone. So what's there to complain about: now you've got Tristania with different moods, so you can listen to it more! After all, these changes we're talking about are NOT EVEN CLOSE to the scale and direction of TOT with their cursed Musique (devil forbid!), and I don't think they will turn away any considerable quantity of Tristania's old fans - quite the contrary, they'll attract new ones.
If you haven't bought Tristania before it might actually be a good album to start with, although it all depends on your backgound in this genre: if gothic is as light as you go, then maybe Beyond the Vail is the best to start with. Either way, the new toy is worth it!

Yet another planet has been discovered--it is that of Tristania, a.k.a. the World Of Glass. From the cover, it appears to be a blue-white world of ice. Oh yes, and glass. It's a world of hard, beautiful melancholy. It's also my pick as one of the best albums of 2001.

The choir, with its Latin words, opens with a soaring power and vitality in the opening track, "The Shining Path," accompanied by Tristania's usual sound of fury. Vibeke's operatic voice then appears in its full beauty. The song's about a female witch or heretic who is burned at the stake, and the point of view is alternately omniscient, and from her. My second favorite track, and what an opener at that!

The millennial "Wormwood," equally potent, seems to be taken from the book of Revelation, about the end of the world, and the loss of faith proceeding from it.

Osten Bergoy is Vibeke Stene's male counterpart, and is billed as "clean male vocals." Both he and Vibeke sing on "Tender Trip On Earth," and sing together on the last verse. Love that refrain: "Tears falling from the sky/Words from a lullaby/Everything beautiful dies."

Tristania then takes an unexpected trip to techno in "Lost." There are some catchy guitar riffs in the chorus: "I'm one--I'm anyone you like me to be/I'm gone--Whenever you would like to be free."

The haunting ballad "Deadlocked" has Vibeke on lead vocals, accompanied by her choir on the chorus. My third favorite track.

One line in the depressing "Selling Out" describes my life to a tee: "The years that passed me by/The child in me just died/The scars in me will never heal/An overdose of nothingness," with the last line repeated a couple times. It is a softer track ringing of despair, and Vibeke sings of running out of dreams, words, tears, screams,... essentially, "I'm running out of life again."

"Hatred" is a wonderfully realized anti-war song, with Vibeke playing the goddess of war and destruction, with her choir as accompanying war sirens: "I'll give you strength to continue the fight/I'll feed you anger and soft little lies." One line in particular makes me angry: "My god is great/I've killed before/All is fair and love and war and peace." I've read of various heads of state and secret societies who think like that, and that is total bollocks! The ugly side of religion is people who kill in its name, believing their god is the greatest. I'm not referring to just militant hijackers, but Pope Urban and the warriors of the Crusades. Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Hindi, Muslims equal share the blame. And we are no different, as we use the phrase "God Bless America." I don't think we have a monopoly on the Christian god. The bottom line of war: "So much pain/so many tears/Out of blood hatred grows."
The title track may also have war connotations: "a falling stone in a world of glass." It's the final track, the 7:41 long "Crushed Dreams," that's my favorite. The choir sings "Exterminate.../Eradicate..." accompanied by frenzied strings.

There's a more consistent and refined sound on World Of Glass. Vibeke and the choir, the features I enjoyed upon first hearing them, play a larger and more vital role than on Beyond The Veil. I hope they keep this style.

Well, keep in mind that this review might changed but im kinda 30% on that happening. I've listened to this album a couple of times and bought it because of all the rave reviews on this website plus the style of music seemed different than anything else I've heard. Well, I do have to say that it definitely is very unique music; many different styles of music are fused together to make up something most people just want to label as Progressive Gothic Metal.
Well, I think it goes beyond that in many aspects, there is also some use of industrial synth within this, as well as melodic death metal guitars, opera influences and folkish flare throughout the whole thing-very progressive indeed. There are a few styles of vocal as well: black/gothic male growls (which is used most), operatic female (gorgeous vocals, and is used almost as much as the goth growls), and clean male (which isn't used a whole lot, but still decent sounding). This is all very different and all, but unfortunately a lot of the songs feel too bloated with all these styles, none really sticking to a pattern. Yes, i understand progressive music doesn't stick to a "pattern" so to speak but bands like Opeth and Dream Theater are also very progressive, but most of the songs have a rhythmic pattern going within them the whole time, and it doesn't feel like there are 2 or 3 different songs in one like it does with WOG. Well, because of this, the songs just had a very hard time keeping my attention, a lot of it just got kinda boring to be honest. There are a FEW parts within some songs that are really good, most especially the use of violins, which doesn't sound like the typical folk violin, but more like a sea of ghosts chanting some gorgeous songs at once, almost sounding like a few violins at one time-very nice.
On top of this, I didn't think the goth growls were all that interesting either, and the song choruses didn't provide anything really catchy, rhythmic, or melodic. Yet, even though I thought all this was apparent, the music was still very very unique.
The one thing I LOVED about this album was easily track 5 "DeadLocked." This is the one song where the female vocals are exclusive, and this song is the epitamy of all beautiful music, and is worth the purchase price of this album alone. Therefore, even though the rest of the album didn't hold up to me, this one song is truly the highlight and one of the best songs I've ever heard. Anyone who hears this album must admit that "DeadLocked" is the only song in the album that actually sounds like a well constructed song, everything flows together well, the tempo changes and pattern changes are flawlessly fused together-whereas most of the rest of the album is just TOO unpredictable for its own good. Now, keep in mind, there are a couple of other good songs on this one, the first couple I thought were actually very good; the first 2 were catchy and melodic, then again, every song really has some good moments within them, but OVERALL most songs just get to be too confused too much, either that or just boring. This album is just another example of how abstract art can be misinterpreted as good solid entertainment. Buy this for Track 5.

OOH, I love this album! Tristania have proved that they can survive without Morten Veland - their former megalomaniac guitarist/growler and songwriter by creating World Of Glass - quite an amazing album really. World Of Glass sounds like a natural progression from Beyond The Veil. The only thing that seems to have suffered from his departure is that the new growler, Ronny Thorsen, isn't as good as Veland. Vibeke Stene's voice is as enchanting as operatic as ever. Osten Bergoy who has had am few singing parts with Tristania previously has written several songs for this album which shows his talents don't just stop at his delectable voice.

Gregorian chanting and choirs have been used a lot on WoG, singing in Latin. This, combined with other Gothic, black metal, folky and techno influences makes World Of Glass a very interesting, atmospheric, unique and varied listen - it doesn't feel like one long track as many albums do.

As on their previous 2 releases (Widow's Weeds and Beyond The Veil), Tristania have used Pete Johansen on violin in most of the tracks and he plays so beautifully, especially on "Wormwood".

The lyrics are thought provoking and often melancholic - especially on the tracks Deadlocked and in Selling Out "I'm running out of steps to walk. Of air to breathe and words to talk. I'm running out of noise to make. Of jokes to tell and hearts to break".

You NEED to have this CD in your collection, but I must warn you, you may become obsessed by it... ooh noooooooooooooo!

This is a must have album for anyone who appreciates sophisticated metal. Some say that Tristania has changed too much-baloney! This album is only as different from the Beyond the Veil as that album was different from Widow's Weeds. Do we really want this unique band rehashing the same music over and over? No way. Tristania is brilliant, as they can mature and deepen their sound while staying within the bounds of what is their music.

Some complain that the new male vocalists sound too different from Morten. Not really. The death/black metal vocals remind me of Dark Tranquility. And speaking of vocals, World of Glass has Vibeke much more than the other two albums. Instead of being a background singer, she has progressed to be one of the lead vocalists. This is great, as I always wished they would use her beautiful, operatic voice more. Tristania added some industrial elements to this album, but only a few to keep it fresh, so don't panic metalheads! They also increased their classical elements, so in some parts this album reminds me of Therion. Overall, their music sounds a bit more gothic, just a tad, which is good. It also sounds a bit more modern, but again, just a smidge. This is still signature Tristania. My only complaint is the songwriting, but they more than make up for it in other countless ways. Conclusion: great album, not quite as good as Beyond the Veil, but overall a better album than Widow's Weeds. Do not miss this gem!!!!!!!11

Does most Doom Metal seem too docile for your taste? Theatre of Tragedy is good, but they let the girl take over the band, and the male vocalist cut out on the growling (I'm not talking about Musique - an album which pretty much totally [stinks]). However Tristania is perfect. They have a lead singer who sings with clarity, one who sings the growling (and does a wonderful job at it), and the girl with the beautiful voice. They are also very skilled with their instruments, and I think this album shows that off nicely. If you liked Beyond the Veil or Widows Weeds, you will certainly like this album. In my opinion, I'd say this album is better than any of their other releases. It's one of my all-time favorite CD's, and I have hundreds. Buy it, you won't be dissapointed.

This Tristania's best work, by far. Their first CD ("Widow's Weeds") was pretty good...very much like Theatre of Tragedy's early stuff. Their second, "Beyond the Veil," saw the band become more powerful, but the band and Vibeke Stene (the band's female singer) were buried behind Morten Verland's death metal growling, which took up about 99% of the CD. The beautiful female vocals, the orchestration, everything was eclipsed by his unintelligible, raspy screeching. Now, most fans of this genre realize that in order to hear this great music, we have to put up with the death growling to some extent (why these bands don't take the hint from Within Temptation and just ditch that crap I don't know), but Verland's growling completely obliterated everything else on "Beyond the Veil." There have been a few reviewers who have expressed dismay at him leaving the band...I say good riddance! With him and his croaking out of the way, Tristania has been able blossom into a great, unique group of musicians and this third release from them is about as perfect as it could be. Yes, there are still some death metal growls, but they don't dominate the CD. They are used, as all of the band's elements are, where they are appropriate. In fact, I think there are almost as many "clean" male vocals on "World of Glass" as their are death growls. And Vibeke's beautiful voice, relegated to the background before, now is out in center stage and it sounds incredible. The choir, too is taking a more upfront role, as is the solo violinist, who just takes off in this new version of the band. It's like they've all been set free and everything good about the band is just cranked up to 10. The songs are powerful and melodic, the production is flawless, and the band's performance is energetic and fun. There is not a bad song on this CD, but the ones that really get me excited about this interesting new direction Tristania has taken are "Tender Trip on Earth," "Deadlocked," and "Selling Out." This is one of the best CD's of the past three years, in any genre.

World of Glass starts in a strong epic mood, like as if Tristania moved a bit towards the valkyrie-Therion style; The Shining Path and Wormwood, the two first songs, are fiercely epic and well matched, and so the LP goes on.

This can be positive or negative depending on your musical tastes; I sadly recall the darkish voice that made themes like My Lost Lenore or Pale Enchantress, as Tristania was composed of several elements in previous releases: sadness, darkness and epicness. Now sadness is somewhat forgotten and though this release is dark, it lacks that kind of... well, "pain", the voices inflicted.

So, buying this one or not depends completely on where your music taste dwells; this is more epic, more northern-european-mystic alike. For the fans who loved the deep gothic metal Tristania style, maybe this one has changed too much

This is not your mother's Tristania...

This is the beautiful, swirling and engaging Tristania you have heard before, but is much more extreme. Death type growling vocals, a la Cradle of Filth, or Dimmu Borgir, are mixed in beautifully with the female and Therion, choir-like passages to create a spectacular listening experience! Even those who may not always like the more extreme side, will find this album practically irresistable. It has it's very quiet moments, too.

There are indeed techno-drum intros on some songs, but are so intense and technically strong, that it only adds to the whole effect. Production is clean and clear. This group has matured, progressed, and evolved into something that has rarely been so perfectly executed. Lovers of Theatre of Tragedy, Sins of Thy Beloved, Paradise Lost, Nightwish, and Within Temptation, will love this album. BUY IT...BUY IT...BUY IT!!!

Wow, I'm not very fan of growling, and this Tristania album, i don't know if it's true, but what it seems to me, is the one with less growling, and more Vibeke's angelic voice, and that's definitly a highlight! Try only to listen "Deadlocked", and you'll understand what I mean!!!
Althrough it has growlings, there not bad at all, and all togheter (growlings, Vibeke's voice, choir, instruments) is really beautiful! If you're a Simphonic/Death/Gothic Metal fan, give it a try!