Madness of the Night
The Asgarda

We are dealing with a Swedish duo when we are dealing with Madness of the Night, a man from Sweden and a girl hailing from Lebanon. At first glance that seems like a recipe for interesting stuff, and the cover looks to confirm something like that. Interesting. The thing is though that interesting premise does not necessitate an interesting execution, it could be a promising piece of nothingness just as well as it can be marvellous. The latter seems to be the case from the reviews I read just before starting the writing of this review. By then I already was clear on which way to go with my ratings and text, I always am to avoid being influenced by the internet reviewers who all too often are way too positive as they also were with this review saying it is more or less perfect. I don’t agree with that.

The music is gothic of a style that can be heard from classics like Sisters of Mercy, The Cult, Paradise Lost and more. A bit darkish, a bit like they have the world’s weight on their shoulders. It is also dynamic with many different routes taken through the album. The singer does show a wide vocal range but is rarely good when not singing in her more regular gothic metal fashion but then she is very good. She does sing many different styles which at time can be a bit irritating as she does not always make it particularly good. The music itself tends to be fairly varied both in style and tempo but it seems to stagnate in time making it less brilliant than it could have been. The soundscape is excellent and I really enjoy the guitars but also many of the fascinating journeys they make through the songs.

I think this is an album to which I am a tad ambivalent, it mixes brilliance with dullness. It mixes a great performance with an unsatisfactory one and at first I thought it was a tad annoying as well as dull and was prepared to write something negative about it but over twenty times playing it I think it settles into a fairly good album with some undesirable elements which I could do without. I think it can be concluded as an interesting premise but with an execution that leaves some things to be desired, that is my way of looking at it. I like the album but at times it almost bores me to sleep, ambivalence is the word of the day I think.

A good debut nevertheless, and if you are a fan of the gothic bands that has been mentioned or referred to in this review it could be a wise choice to check them out as Madness of the Night has something to offer despite them being a bit negative on the gypsies. In the end I think that we can say that The Asgarda is a decent album that feels a slight bit like an opportunity wasted as I believe it had the potential to be a whole lot better.

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