| Poems of a Forgotten Dream (Mcd) | 1999 | Killerwhale |
Originating from the Netherlands, Whispering Gallery consist of six highly talented fellows, three of which contribute to the elaborate and effective mix of high and low singing, grunt, scream, spoken word and whispering vocals. Two of these men also provide the bass and percussion, whilst the three other, non-verbal members are made up of two guitarists and a keyboardist. The band plays reasonably original and immensely good modern doom-death, which also features lots of gothic, medieval, romantic, tragic and mellow influences, and are moderately comparable to Theatre of Tragedy circa their 'Theatre of Tragedy/Velvet Darkness they Fear' period. And this, their first 'proper' record besides their self-released 'Gallery Of Dreams' demo, is no exception to such a description.
Though the production is perhaps a little lacking, WG are promptly forgiven due to it being one of their first releases, and the quality of this Mini CD more than makes up for it anyway. The vocals are prominent, and as previously stated, very impressive indeed in all their various incarnations, and the synthesizers and keys add much to the emphatic and emotive atmosphere 'Poems…' presents. With the exception of 'Tragedies of a Darkened soul', a moody, yet brief, mellow song featuring a magnificent organ (or at least, the keyboard rendition of it), as well the acoustic guitar and singing that is slightly reminiscent of Opeth's mellower moments, all the tracks remain within the six minute mark, and are masterpieces of sorrowful, modern death-doom with great sentiment.
It may not go down all that well with proto, epic and traditional doom fans, but for the more gothic minded doom fanatic, this is a record bursting with emotion and quality that will no doubt prove to be admired for years to come, and deserves to earn Whispering Gallery great popularity.
1. The Lord of the Enchanted Forest
2. My Final Hour on Earth
3. Tragedies of a Darkened Soul
4. Into the Valley of Loneliness
Approx. 22 minutes
| Like a Dream of Never ending Beauty… Love never dies (CD) | 2000 | Killerwhale |
On this album they mix in atmospheric and romantic parts with more up-tempo gothic-/black-metal sections. Like a lot of bands this day and age they also use multiple vocal styles (mainly clean male vocals vs. scream/grunted vocals). Everything is well executed and I can not find anything bad about this album. However, after the first few songs I also can't find anything extremely interesting about the album.
The album starts pretty good with 'A world of Immortality'. While not being overly original, it is a nice and almost 'catchy' track. The following few tracks are of likewise quality, but my interest fades more and more with each song. Only 'An Eternity of Mourning' (beautiful song!) and the 'Maid of Orleans' cover awake my interest again. Not that Whispering Gallery does anything wrong, in fact they are talented musicians who maintain a high standard throughout the entire album. But I can't say I hear anything I've not heard before. The market is simply flooded with these atmospheric, romantic gothic/doom outfits.
If you are looking for a solid piece of Gothic/Doom to dream away to and if you are a huge fan of this type of music, I will definitely advice you to get this album. Whispering Gallery outperform a lot of their better-known contemporaries. However, if you have had your fair share of this style already and you're looking for something new and refreshing musically, then look elsewhere.
1. Intro
2. A world of Immortality
3. Uriël in Requiem
4. Soul Sacrifice
5. An Eternity of Mourning
6. My Heavenly Escape
7. Daydream
8. Quest of Kingdom
9. Maid of Orleans
10. Your Shapeless Body
Approx. 52 minutes
| Lost As One (CD) | 2002 | No Label |
As for variety, good things can be said about the mix of clean vocals and excellent grunts, sometimes also screams. Keyboards have an important role in the music, yet sometimes pressing the guitars a little too much to the background. In general it can be said that the album is technically very good and has a very good and clean sound as well. Especially the drumming is very stimulating in parts and really driving the song forward.
The variety in the songs, combined with the catchiness, takes the listener through very different moods and soundscapes. Heavy and rather doomy songs like 'Touched by the Stars II' and 'The Last Time' are in good company of tracks like the heavy and uptempo 'Mistress Guardian' and the calm closing song 'Something Beautiful' and a song like 'Lost as One' that gently refers to the While Heaven Wept style of singing and songwriting.
A few notes of criticism though, which make me consider this album a fairly good one, but not outstanding from the many regular doom-death releases that come out today. The song 'The Portrait', inspired on a short story by E.A.Poe according to the booklet, has a catchy (dare I say poppy?) keyboard theme that is recurring through the entire song and annoys the hell out of me. The grunted "oh yeah" in the middle of the refrain of same said song sounds downright silly, as does the "sigh" at the very end of 'Lost as One'. Maybe I'm taking this all too serious, but these things are certainly estranging me.
This all put aside, the general remark would be that this album is certainly worth the listen, and advisable for those who think keyboard-driven atmospheric doom-death is exactly their cup of tea.
1. The Earth is the Sky
2. See Beyond the Void
3. Touched by the Stars I
4. Touched by the Stars II
5. The Portrait
6. Lost as One
7. The Last Time
8. Mistress Guardian
9. Something Beautiful
Approx. 45 minutes