Tribulation - The Children Of The Night

Published April 23 2015

*=Staff's pick	Strange Gateways Beckon* Melancholia* In The Dreams Of The Dead Winds* Själaflykt The Motherhood Of God Strains Of Horror* Holy Libations Cauda Pavonis* Music From The Other

Genre	Death Metal	Johannes Andersson	Vocals
Tracks	10	Adam Zaars	Guitar
Running time	56 Min.	Jonathan Hultén	Guitar
Label	Century Media	Johannes Andersson	Bass
Release	April 20, 2015	Jakob Ljungberg	Drums
Country	Sweden	-	Keyboard
Producer	Ola Ersfjord
Similar artists	Morbus Chron

Tribulation is without a doubt one of the more interesting and creative death metal bands of today. After following up their masterful, old-school debut album The Horror with the experimental wonder that is The Formulas Of Death, their fans learned to expect the unexpected and with their third album, The Children Of The Night, they keep moving forward.

Opening the album is Strange Gateways Beckon a very strong song that immediately sets the mood with an eerie pipe organ and piano intro. If Ghost played death metal, then I imagine it would sound something like this song, partly because of the keyboard and guitar melodies but perhaps mainly because of how well-crafted it is with the different components, instruments, harmonies and parts coming together perfectly.

The sound, you will notice, is not very brutal - especially the solo guitar has a rather clean, classic-rock type of sound. This works surprisingly well - I'm actually not longing for a more brutal production for once. Johannes Andersson also has a rather clean yet harsh singing style, reminding more of Watain's Erik Danielsson than many of the more guttural vocalists in the death metal genre. This fits very well with the overall sound and atmosphere of the album.

The listener is treated to different tempos, musical arrangements and influences as the album progresses with an impressive collection of songs, drawing influence from black metal and classic rock but venturing on a lot of different paths during the dramatic journey that is The Children Of The Night.

While the album title might imply a lot of different things, it is certainly chosen keeping in mind the quote by Bela Lugosi in his monumental depiction of Dracula from the 1931 movie ("Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!"). The influences from horror movie soundtracks are present all throughout the album, with the chilling Cauda Pavonis being the prime example - it sounds almost as if taken straight from a Dario Argento soundtrack.

The Children Of The Night takes the experimental spirit from The Formulas Of Death even further and pushes the boundaries of death metal to its limits, while staying true to the genre. Apart from Strange Gateways Beckon, some of my favourite tracks from the album are the highly energetic Melancholia, the dramatic Winds and the Pink Floyd-ish Strains Of Horror.

If you haven't discovered Tribulation yet, it's about damn time - any devout death metal fan should check this one out. Still, it is a more easily accessible album than its more complex predecessor and I imagine that it could be enjoyed by people that normally aren't really into the genre, as well.

See also review of: The Formulas Of Death

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
8	9	8	7,5	8

Summary
8 chalices of 10 - Blidmark