The New Earth

Glacia

Doppelgänger

Former doom-metal band member Carline Van Roos presents her softer, ethereal side with this project and her second album. This work is presented in a cd 12-page booklet with lyrics, artwork and other info for a beautiful full package. The music is featured in a half-dozen spellbinding, neo-classical tracks that will hold the listener mesmerized.

From the first notes the listener is taken into the melancholy, yet beautiful world of Glacia. The orchestral movements form slowly and subtly on "The Violet" with the timpani drums slow building to give way to Carline's harmonized vocals. This harmonic nature brings out a more somber mood in the music compared to other ethereal neo-classical bands, though all of the music and overall moods are still comparable to Dark SanctuaryArtesia. The nice thing that I personally enjoy on this album compared to the aformentioned groups is the english vocals and lyrics, allowing me to understand and enjoy them each more fully. Each of the tracks are longer than your typical pieces, lasting around six minutes, though "Glacia" comes in at just over eight minutes. With the length of the tracks, only six pieces still keeps the album just long enough that it's more than just an EP but still a little short and one or two more tracks would have been great since the music is so enjoyable.

Throughout this short album the somber moods envelop the user through a small variety. The piano on "Le Temps d'un Voyage" is a nice touch to accent the emotional vocals laced with the bombastic and moody orchestral compositions. As the album moves along, despite the variety in compositions, it does sound a bit homogenous in the vocal structure, which for me made it hard to note the differences between tracks. But I'm sure as I listen to it more, they'll start to stand out a little better. Suffice it to say the cold and dark moods across the frozen and forsaken musical landscape provide the perfect contrast to the somber, ethereal female vocals. The title track "Glacia" stands out as a favorite along these lines with the howling wind starting out the piece and the spoken vocals over the haunting music. The ritualistic sounds of "Autan Noir" also bring out these moods well and stand out as another excellent piece for the cold, yet dreamy soundscapes.

The album wraps up with "Moonlit Path" which features more piano and just a slight change in style and mood about halfway through the track. This interlude builds again and the timpani comes out strong along with the strings and bombastic orchestral approach to the music in the same format we've heard on the previous tracks. While a little too monotonous in the vocal and musical structure, the overall album is great and this could be one great single piece broken down into six different movements like the classical greats. Highly recommended and we look forward to what this artist will be able to offer in the future.