Myriads - Introspection

*=Staff's pick	Enigmatic Colours of the Night* Miserere Mei* Inside The Sanctum of My Soul* Portal to the Mind* Falling in the Equinox Flickering Thoughts Encapsulated

Genre	Gothic Metal	Mikael Stokdal	Vocals
Tracks	9	Alexander Twiss	Guitar
Runningtime	74 Min.	J.P	Guitar
Label	Napalm Records	Torp	Bass
Release	08 April 2002	Rudi Jünger	Drums
Country	Norway	Mona Undheim Skottene	Keyboards
Similar artists	Theatre of Tragedy, Trail of Tears

Myriads is a goth metal band from Stavanger, Norway, and doesn't just share hometown with Theatre of Tragedy, but also similarities in the music, but Myriads involve many more elements in their sound and that's perhaps why they've chosen their name. Because there's a myriad of different musical elements gathered here on Introspection.

First of all the band's got no less than three vocalists! A female very solemn one that also sounds very magical, bewitching and even operatic. Then we have three different male voices. One is very clean and more standard metal, but the other two involves death metal grunts, screams and growling in both low and high tones. And there's as good as always a male/male duet or a male/female one going on. This definitely brings about a feeling of the beauty and the beast or a fragile angel meeting a dark demon rising from the depths of hell, but it's also very good.

Musicwise it's very hard to catogorize and describe because there are so many elements to consider. First of all we have the gothic almost doom black metal to take in to consideration and further we also find traces of folkmusic and some industrial elements. Second the band also blend their sound with patterns from heavy and power metal and even hard rock. As good as every track is very long and the entire album reaches over 74 minutes and only contains nine tracks, which gives an average to over 8 minutes per song. All of these contain many changes in tempo, melody and also of course vocals. There are minutes of long calmer piano sections that are supported by choirs and accoustic guitars in many of the tracks, and it's in these sections we usually meet the cleaner male voice.

Lyrically we're facing a band that deal with matters of psychology, philosophy and dreams with dramatic elements, which fit perfect to the actual music. The album is produced at Tico Tico Studios in Finland where recognized bands like Children of Bodom and Sentenced have worked. It's mastered by the people also responsible for Opeth, Dark Tranquillity and In Flames and althogether this make up for a very good result.

Fans of Trail of Tears and above all Theatre of Tragedy should absolutely pay Myriads some attention and listen to them given the chance. It can get a litte tedious at times with all the slower parts of the tracks and a bit faster pace wouldn't hurt. A bit more quality and less quantity next time will do wonders for the grade. But still, I think Introspection works very well and feels very compatible in this department of the metal-scene. So if the previous mentioned bands are on your list of favourites and you're also suckers for longer tracks like I am, Myriads is a band that absolutely has a lot to offer.

Introspection is a very ambitious album and Myriads have shown that they have stocks of potential, which handled right should catapult them to way more recognition!

Production	Vocals	Compositions
7,5	8	7,5

Summary
7,5 chalices of 10 - Mat