TRISTITIA - Lamentations In Darkness / 5CD Boxset

Collection of the first ten years of Swedish Blackened Doom Metal act Tristitia in a deluxe and remastered boxset, featuring four albums and their legendary demos!

Tristitia is another gem from the glorious epoch of Holy Records and these recordings possess a superior, totally personal and theatrical sound full of magic and nostalgia. The whole concept of this band is able to place you somewhere in the Middle Ages, mocking crazy inquisitors and trying to escape from witch hunt. Sadly Tristitia wasted a lot of its potential and it remained in the shadows, but maybe that is where they belonged anyway.

Though Tristitia is considered a Blackened Doom band, musically there are no obvious Black Metal elements, but the term refers to the atmosphere, the anti-Christian lyrics and the few high-pitched vocals which differentiate it from the typical Doom sound. By the sound of a Gregorian chant accompanied by rhythm guitars one is immediately transferred within the walls of an ancient dark abbey, where suspicious monks disguise and obscure macabre crimes. One could think of the Italian medieval sounding band La Reverdie for a similar mystical feeling.

The production with its resonance, and a good amount of reverberation on the drums, creates a sensation as if a group of heretics has conquest an old cathedral and uses it to practice reversed rituals and to unleash its blasphemous anti-Christian preaching. Pretty unique and intriguing atmosphere even if it might feel pretentious to some. The material is very rich in ideas and thoughtful changes. This is a different approach to Doom with lots of lead melodies and classical influences drenched to gothic romanticism. The riffs are inventive, dark and melancholic, original and instantly pleasurable to the ear. There is nothing similar to Tristitia so it is difficult to describe it perfectly but certainly each listener will get unique images and feelings from it.

CD 1:One with Darkness
1. Sorrow
2. Kiss The Cross
3. One With Darkness
4. Winds of Sacrifice
5. Burn The Witch
6. Hymn of Lunacy
7. Ashes Of The Witch
8. Dancing Souls
9. Adagio 1809
10. Reminiscences Of The Mourner
11. Dance Of The Selenites

CD 2: Crucidiction
1. Ego Sum Resurrectio
2. Christianic Indulgence
3. Crucidiction
4. Wintergrief
5. Envy the Dead
6. Lioness’ Roar
7. Mark my Words
8. Gardenia
9. Final Lament

CD 3: The Last Grief
1. Once upon a Dawn...
2. In the light of the Moon
3. Slaughteary
4. Evolic
5. Golden Goddess of Fire
6. Tears & Tequila
7. Angelwitches Palace
8. Memory’s Garden
9. Instrumental Hollowcoast
10. MediEvil
11. Under the Cross
12. Darknia: The Last Grief

CD 4: Garden of Darkness
1. The Entrance
2. Path I. Beholder’s Tears
3. Path II. Black Godz Serenade - Part I
4. Path III. As Death says Mine
5. Path IV. When Tears Cry
6. Path V. Beyond the 7th Valley
7. Path VI. There Will Never be Another Dawn
8. Path VII. Black Godz Serenade - Part II
9. Path VIII. Tears of the moon

CD 5: Lamentations from the Beginning
1. Dancing Souls
2. Burn The Witch
3. Winds Of Sacrifice
4. The Other Side
5. Envy the Dead
6. Reminiscences of the Mourner
7. Ashes Of The Witch
8. Mark My Words