Die Verbannten Kinder Evas - Dusk And Void Became Alive (2006)

I was introduced to this band about a week and a half ago. I was awe-stricken. I don't believe I've ever heard better music in this particular style. This band does not make metal. Die Verbannten Kinder Evas is Darkwave with heavy classical influence, as best as I can categorize them. It's very difficult for me to explain the genre of this band.

Die Verbannten Kinder Evas is Austrian, containing currently only two members, Christina Kroustali and Richard Lederer. The band was originally created in order to create a more toned-down alternative for two of the members of Summoning, an Austrian atmospheric black metal band.

All of this is really beside the fact that this album completely and utterly kills. There is no heavy guitar. The drums are used sparingly. They seemed to have abandoned their more overtly classical sound for a far more Gothic inspired form of Darkwave, which I think is brilliant. The music is very brooding and melancholic. This is music to think to, not to rock to.

Translated to English, Die Verbannten Kinder Evas means "The Exiled Children of Eve". Each song on this album is haunting and beautiful. Yes, I realize that made me sound like a fag. No, I don't care. I'm currently listening to Catharsis, an instrumental piano track that is absolutely mind blowing. It starts out slowly and gradually gains momentum. It's extremely hard to take this song and put it to words. It is, without a doubt, the greatest culminating track on any album I have ever heard.

This album is basically perfect. When there are vocals, they're done tastefully. Mostly operatic, Kroustali and Lederer make fantastic vocal trade offs that fit songs perfectly. I think the broad range of Kroustali's vocals are really tested in the song Winter's Night. This song also happens to be my favorite song of the album. The drums used are simple and repetitive, making the song seem as though it were the theme to the beginnings to a battle scene. It's a song that's very synthy. If you're not a fan of synthesizers, stop reading this and listen to Cock and Ball Torture instead.

Overall, if I wasn't so lazy, I'd probably go back and add this album to my top 10 albums of '06 as either #1 or #2. It's simply stunning, and I recommend it to anyone that wants something to sit down to that actually makes them think.