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It's been a while since I've been this conflicted by an album. A part of me wants to turn this off but another part is very curious about this bizarre mix of old school heavy metal and present day alternative metal. That's not all, there is so much going on in this album, it's hard to classify this. So let's not classify, let's just try to be objective about it and describe this album.
Tristana is a metal band from Slovakia, founded around the turn of the century. Initially the band played hard rock and heavy metal in the traditional way of these genres. However, during the years, Tristana adopted several other influences like the screaming vocals of (post-) hardcore, the melodic elements of power metal and the electronics that some modern (or less-modern) rock bands like Enter Shikari and Senser incorporate.
It's exactly this strange mix that makes Virtual Crime quite a difficult album. At some points Tristana sounds like a big arena rock band like Bon Jovi but then, suddenly, it all turns into a violent hardcore piece in the vein of Thrice or Escape The Fate. Other bands that come to mind are Masterplan, Evergrey and Nevermore, especially in the parts with clean vocals. At times, this album sounds like an overview of metal styles throughout history, leaving out the extreme subgenres.
So, is Virtual Crime a bad album? No, it isn't. This is actually a splendid model for present day metal. The fact that it mostly incorporates styles that I don't really listen to, doesn't change the fact that this band might be on their way to the top of today's alternative scene. There's a lot of melody, fantastic guitar solos, catchy tunes and some excellent songwriting. This will please a lot of young metalheads and can definitely make a lot of people interested in the genre.
I'm sure that Tristana contains highly talented musicians who know a great deal about writing powerful music. I'm also sure that they can deliver the same quality in a live setting and play some very convincing concerts. So, don't let an aging reviewer stop them from doing what they are good at. After all, we might be dealing with one of this generation's classics, just like Korn, Slipknot & Linkin Park are classics for the third generation, Metallica, Iron Maiden & Slayer for the second and Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin & Deep Purple for the first.
Rock will never die, and Virtual Crime proves that.
Serge
Tristana is a metal band from Slovakia, founded around the turn of the century. Initially the band played hard rock and heavy metal in the traditional way of these genres. However, during the years, Tristana adopted several other influences like the screaming vocals of (post-) hardcore, the melodic elements of power metal and the electronics that some modern (or less-modern) rock bands like Enter Shikari and Senser incorporate.
It's exactly this strange mix that makes Virtual Crime quite a difficult album. At some points Tristana sounds like a big arena rock band like Bon Jovi but then, suddenly, it all turns into a violent hardcore piece in the vein of Thrice or Escape The Fate. Other bands that come to mind are Masterplan, Evergrey and Nevermore, especially in the parts with clean vocals. At times, this album sounds like an overview of metal styles throughout history, leaving out the extreme subgenres.
So, is Virtual Crime a bad album? No, it isn't. This is actually a splendid model for present day metal. The fact that it mostly incorporates styles that I don't really listen to, doesn't change the fact that this band might be on their way to the top of today's alternative scene. There's a lot of melody, fantastic guitar solos, catchy tunes and some excellent songwriting. This will please a lot of young metalheads and can definitely make a lot of people interested in the genre.
I'm sure that Tristana contains highly talented musicians who know a great deal about writing powerful music. I'm also sure that they can deliver the same quality in a live setting and play some very convincing concerts. So, don't let an aging reviewer stop them from doing what they are good at. After all, we might be dealing with one of this generation's classics, just like Korn, Slipknot & Linkin Park are classics for the third generation, Metallica, Iron Maiden & Slayer for the second and Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin & Deep Purple for the first.
Rock will never die, and Virtual Crime proves that.
Serge
