TAINTED

Trude EIDTANG is the singer of WHITE WILLOW, and has already released an album flirting with pop in 2013! The obvious question is the following, namely a simple continuation of the 1st or a mix of what she was able to do with WHITE WILLOW. In fact, this second album has everything of a trap, because the mini pieces interspersed and the two largest (7 and 8 minutes) at the end of the CD suggest a concept... Such is the case!​

By searching a little, we find that the titles talk about the myth of Faust, and we can imagine that the songs will go to a crescendo... That's what I started to believe from the 4th listen, but not before! And yes, without this work of listening to the album on repeat, I would have ended up with a pop-dark-melancholy-synthetic-medieval or even depressive album! Songs without much brilliance, without a major piece, without that little something that takes you to prog lands.​

You will have understood, this album is a trap, alternating hushed, medieval, electro atmospheres with others that are more elaborate, even more progressive. An intro with bells and a saint's voice as an appetizer, a synthetic sound and a crystalline and monolithic voice from the 2nd title, an organ coming from nowhere on the 3rd to lead to the flagship title "Wings of Wax" with its fat guitar riff, hypnotic and a little saturated! "Out of Spaces" starts on the same basis with even more synths and a melancholic voice à la Lana del REY, but it's Trude who sings in a captivating way!​

"Eternity" and 'Wonderful Warning' cut the album apart a little with two ballads a little below the rest, with a lack of creation above all; fortunately the guitar returns at the end to support the slightly cutesy rhythm, a solo which reminds me at certain moments of THE SMASHING PUMPKINS.​

But the last two allow us to get back on track with the album with sounds like THE GATHERING, MOSTLY AUTUMN, KARNATAKA or even NIGHTWISH from the early days and a little CHILDREN IN PARADISE for its guitar flights! The last one with its tune to "Bring in the Accused" is worth the detour alone; alternating soft atmosphere on the piano, then intoxicating choirs and Floydian solo without forgetting the bell of? the first title!​

In short, an album without much pretension, yes I know how to be harsh, but if you take the trouble to listen to it all at once, you risk wanting to hear it again to sink a little deeper into this universe that Trude and Christian knew compose, a universe where the concept album is not that far away!

An album that knew how to create its own universe without having its own sound is already not so bad, but one that I almost missed!