Via Mistica – Testamentum

Via Mistica – Testamentum / 2006 Metal Mind / http://viamistica.rockmetal.art.pl / http://www.metalpolis.pl / http://www.mvdb2b.com / Reviewed 11 November 2006

After the short introduction that Via Mistica lays out in which to ensnare listeners, the band goes off in much longer, progressive meets metal types of tracks. This disc was created in 2003, but there is much in common with the metal (Specifically, acts like Megadeth), from the early nineties. The band moves into the My Dying Bride style of progressive metal soon after, so there are a number of distinct styles that are swirling around during any part of “Testamentum”. For their first full song, Via Mistica introduces individuals to the nearly nine minutes of “I Would Die”.

This track has a high amount of repetition present between the constituent parts of the song, but this is not present through the song as a whole. In fact, the first positive that individuals can hear with Via Mistica is that the band knows exactly how to create the arrangements for a long track without necessarily resorting to similar arrangements and blaise instrumentation. Via Mistica may be the first band that I have heard that moves beyond a simple goth-like method of using the female vocals during their track and pressing them to the next opera – to a level that individuals would call “opera”-like. “Valley of Fear” may be the most sedate of the tracks on “Testamentum”, but there is still an energy and a fury that individuals cannot deny is part and parcel of Via Mistica’s sound. The act can create compelling music no matter what original tack that they may take on the onset of a song.

Via Mistica are able to include a very approachable sound in what is really a hard, metal-tinged act. Individuals can either get into the rough edges of a track like “I Would Die” or they can be enthralled by the smoothed-out, vocal heaviness of a track like the aforementioned “Valley of Fear”. The band, if they are still together, should be nearing completion on another album; why they may not be currently together, I would like to see how the act has matured over time, and what would be their output in this current day and age. The band is able to create equal parts of operatic gothic music with a healthy dollop of metal, so that individuals of all types and musical tastes can find something that they particularly like with this album. An interesting, intense bit of metal music, that is for sure.

Top Tracks: I Would Die, Lost Desires

Rating: 6.1/10

[JMcQ]