TARJA – Victim Of Ritual – CD review

TARJA
Victim Of Ritual
earMusic

And so the Goblin Queen returns with a riff nicked wholesale from a Ravel classical music piece, but as those are all out of copyright, it’s fair game. Of course I might have complained more if that hadn’t been a cracker of a return for the former Nightwish singer.

It’s a pounding, rhythm based piece of gothic metal, with Tarja hitting the notes that only she can reach. It’s in the vein of ‘Anteroom Of Death’ from “What Lies Beneath”, sounds huge, and is the best produced record of her solo career. You also get a first demo recording of ‘Victim Of Ritual’, which goes to show what you can achieve with a mixing desk and a good ear.

To round off the EP, you get live versions of ‘I Walk Alone’ and ‘Underneath’, recorded at Luna Park in Buenos Aires, Argentina. They’re good but don’t get too excited as they’re from her next live album, due out at Christmas. As a precursor to her forthcoming album, “Colours In The Dark”, it does the job, even if the awful cover art will give me migraines for a while to come.

Buy at Amazon