After releasing a quite well written but standard gothic metal album broadly along the aesthetic lines of Tristania (Profoundemonium) Trail Of Tears embarked on experimenting with other styles. Where the following A New Dimension Of Might seemed mainly inspired by the symphonic and bombastic heydays of Dimmu Borgir, Free Fall Into Fear made the impression of being heavily influenced by more modern death/thrash metal acts. Because this collective, aside from experimenting, also excelled in the incorporation of musical cliché’s and way too cheesy jingles, I never really paid that much attention. I must say however that I`ve always admired the band for progressing instead of relying and expanding upon the success of Profoundemonium, as well as becoming more aggressive and straightforward while remaining gothic, instead of mellowing out like a range of their stylistic contemporaries.

So I was a bit curious when they threw out Existentia. What immediately caught my ears was that Trail Of Tears, aside from the grunts, does not place the emphasis exclusively on female clean vocals with their gothic oriented metal, which is, in these waters, quite unique. While guest singers Emmanuelle Zoldan and Astri Skarpengland produce some nice contributions, most clean passages are sung by Kjetil Nordhus and he pulls that off very well.

The music consists of succinct anthems which sound as grotesque as common with this style. The songs, apart from the quite standard gothic metal practice, are mainly characterized by melodic death metal influences reminiscent of a band like Edge Of Sanity. Despite the fact that they come up with a catchy tune here and there (‘Decadence Becomes Me’, ‘As It Penetrates’) I can’t say however that I’m too impressed. While refraining from too many platitudes this time it still sounds all too familiar, even if straying into other metal styles.

Existentia is a record the avid gothic metal fan might surely like and be happy to add to his collection. For the rest of us there is not much exiting to be found here. Whether the former will be seeing them soon performing live can be questioned since the band almost fell apart two months ago. Their recent trouble ridden tour in Mexico saw all but one of the founding members of the band leave because of the calamities. As can be read in a statement on the official site though, Thorsen is determined to continue Trail Of Tears and will try to live up to obligations and his wish to produce yet another chapter. I guess we’ll hear from him again.