Via Mistica

Testamentum (In Hora Mortis Nostre)

The impression I got from listening to this recent Via Mistica release was pretty clear from the very start of the record, which contains 11 songs all equal in intensity, atmosphere and expression.

Cold, gloomy and quite melancholic music, in an explicit doom/goth-like style of music. Thundering low tempo, metal with an average amount of energy, which does not encourage the audience in front of the stage to intense action and moshing around. This is more like a lean back mellow kind of music that should be enjoyed in solitude, with candlelight and the curtains drawn. Via Mistica is not experimental or innovative when it comes to composing. Their attitudes are quite average and traditional, but please consider it as a mark of quality in this case.

 I like the atmosphere around Via Mistica a lot and the very bright female vocal is probably their trademark. The vocal is dominant in the sphere of Via Mistica – on a few occasions almost to the limit of being too much. But it’s also important to maintain a certain level of trustworthiness and acknowledgement to the genre in their music, and that’s probably why Via Mistica has chosen to use the vocal as it is on this generally fine record. After all - this kind of vocal is a basic part of goth music.

Thumbs up for this fine polish band, which has been around since 1999 when they released their first album named “Via Mistica 98-99”.

There’s much more information about Via Mistica to be found at: http://www.viamistica.rockmetal.art.pl