Incredible!! This should say enough about both cd’s. Maudlin Of The Well has made two cd’s that listen to the names of “Bath” and “Leaving Your Body Map”. Described by the band itself as astral metal (whatever that may be), this is musical education of an unparalleled level. In total more than 120 minutes of dark symphonic music. This varies from an instrumental?? track that is a percussion performed by tapping on the water of a full bath, to extreme death metal from which Hypocrisy even can learn (considering Hypocrisy a top death metal band).

Maudlin Of The Well is a group of nine musicians that have created an unique musical genre. To achieve this, they employ a vast array of musical instruments: from the standard metal-band of guitars/bass/drums to keyboards, clarinet, saxophone, flute, cello, viola, piano, Hammond organ, church organ, upright bass, various percussion (remember the bath!), and vocals ranging from death-growls to screams to female and male clean singing to whispering to power-belting, and everything in between. You probably get it by now. Every human emotion is represented in one of the in total (2 cd’s) 19 tracks. Heavily influenced by bands as My dying Bride, Anathema and Tiamat, there are also jazz- and classical music- influences and even guitar solo’s that could have been composed by (older)Iron Maiden.

But don’t be mistaken, this music isn’t for everyone! You really have to sit down and listen to it preferably with head-phones and be prepared for a trip into “astral dimensions”. You’ll probably start to appreciate it after 5 trips, understanding will occur after 10 times and enjoyment way beyond that, but it will be worth it. Arguably the best two cd’s of the year will be loved by both death-, black-metal fans and gothic-lovers with an open mind, maybe even new age people who are into metal. One remark: if you don’t have that open mind, don’t take the journey!!

As you will have noticed, this is a band that can not be described on paper, so listen to it. Go to the shop and take “Bath” out of the rack, put on track 7 (“Girl With A Watering Can”) and 8 (“Birth Pains Of Astral Projection”), for these are most representative for this music and they are the most accessible. They both start slow and quiet and end in pure death. Listen to them twice and than decide if this is worthwhile listening to more often.

If you don’t like this you’ll probably rate this as 1.0 out of 10.0, but on shear originality and musical perfection this deserves 9.0 out of 10.0. Want to hear more? They have made one more album, which was their debut: “My Fruit Psychobells….”.