Quite a nice musical child, Madrigal’s firstborn “I die, you soar”. The entire record is one huge journey through catchy guitar riffs and melancholic keyboards accompanied by Martin Karlsson’s vocals that had this dry Scandinavian sound. The Scandinavian sound can be explained by the fact that the band was founded back in 1998 in Gothenburg, Sweden. They experienced every musician’s wet dream since then. Winning a new band competition which gave them a chance to enter a studio and record a demo. That demo was send to Mp3.com and Madrigal ended up as number three in the Gothic chart. After opening a show in 2000 for In Flames, the singer of the latter band, , was quite impressed and offered Madrigal a chance to record their debut album: “I die, you soar”.

I must admit; I was equally impressed with the bands’ result. For a band that got together just three years ago, they sound remarkably coherent. The album is loaded with emotions, pain and melancholy. Nothing quite original or renewing, but simply an album quite above average considering the other newcoming bands in the Scandinavian Gothic Rock scene. Eight tracks that grab and get hold of your attention for the entire, somewhat short (just under 39 minutes!), duration of the album. An album though that makes me curious what these Swedes will do next…