Tular - Tular

Published July 31 2008

*=Staff's pick	Fairy Legend Witch! We Rule The Night*

Genre	Gothic Metal	Fransesca Martini	Vocals
Tracks	3	Emanuele Palmieri	Guitar
Runningtime	14 Min.	Alessandro Iacobellis	Guitar
Label	Renessaince Records USA	Michele Raspanti	Bass
Release	2008	David Folchetti	Drums
Country	Italy	-	Keyboard
Similar artists	Lacuna Coil, Within Temptation

I have a slightly bad experience of reviewing Italian Goth acts for Metal Covenant; Lacuna Coil's latest release was a big disappointment and Godyva's album In Good And Evil was certainly not much better. That's why I started listening to Tular's demo with rather low expectations. The band hails from Rome, was formed in 2006 and seems to have high ambitions. They have among other things recorded a video for the track Witch, for example.

According to the band's biography, they have strived to make their sound stand out from the rest of the Goth bands. However, from what I'm hearing there is little originality about their sound, which immediately makes you draw parallels to bands like the above mentioned Lacuna Coil. There are plenty of oriental influences, the grunts that occasionally are heard in the background are merely annoying, the vocalist Fransesca Martini reminds of a whinier Sharon Den Adel from Within Temptation, and the songs are thin as paper. With a stronger vocalist these songs might have been given a boost, but Martini remains pretty much on the same pitch the whole time, and she's not able to carry them on her own.

The last track We Rule The Night does have certain qualities, and proves that the band knows how to compose a decent melody. The production is also pretty okay, but I would definitely prefer heavier guitars that were used more often. But perhaps I don't know what I'm talking about, maybe this is how the Italians want their Goth metal to sound? If that's the case, it's sadly not my cup of tea.

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
5	4	6	4	4

Summary
4 chalices of 10 - Niklas