Review: Lacrimosa

Lacrimosa
“Fassade”
(Nuclear Blast)

Lacrimosa is a morose sampling of gothic orchestration from the dark land of Sweden. Many orchestral arrangements keep the otherwise uninspired and sluggish songs interesting with an added layer of complexity and daring that would be absent from this album without the aid of The German Film Orchestra Babelsberg. Lacrimosa also benefit from having two vocalists, one male, one female, both competent at what they do. The music at times reminds me of some of the slower songs from the sixties. Leslie Gore performing “You Don’t Own Me” comes to mind especially when songstress Anne Nurmi belts forth her impassioned tunes in her native German language. This should of course be a red flag for anyone who can’t stand songs they can’t sing along to, and with Lacrimosa there’ll be none of that unless you happen to speak German. Lacrimosa should be on your shopping list if you’re Goth purist who also enjoys German film scores. This album brings the two together, beats them both into submission and forces them to get along before starving them to the brink of death and having them face off for their very survival in a to the death grudge match where only one will win and feast on the battered, emaciated corpse of the other. And just when you think that’s all you’re going to get, in comes marching the crunchy, chunk-filled guitars and a bit of growl from the throat of Tilo Wolff just to let you know now is not the time to get overly complacent.