Metatron

Austrian goth metal band Darkwell hasn't had an easy time keeping an intact lineup, which has affected its album-to-album consistency. After a debut album that featured the semi-operatic vocals of Alexandra Pittracher and a fairly generic goth metal sound along the lines of Nightwish or Visions of Atlantis, the group squeezed out the half-hearted stopgap Conflict of Interest, a half-studio, half-live mess recorded as Pittracher and half of the original band's lineup was leaving. New singer Stephanie Luzie quite wisely dials back on the operatic pretensions in favor of a straightforward '80s goth vocal style that at times even recalls Cocteau Twins' sublime Liz Fraser. Similarly, the band has increased the old-school goth-pop aspects of its sound: only Moritz Neuner's speed-demon drum tattoos keep the title track from sounding completely indebted to the likes of Siouxsie and the Banshees or Bauhaus. This might not endear them to the more hardcore metalheads in their audience, but surprisingly, the lighter and more pop-oriented sound of Metatron sounds better and more original than either of Darkwell's previous albums, and it suggests a creative path the group would do well to explore further.