MORTAL LOVE - I Have Lost
Nearly three years after their well received debut All The Beauty, Mortal Love from Norway have released their second CD I Have Lost. The cover artwork is again decorated by singer Cat who once claimed in an interview to be very beautiful and to be the band's most important member. Although the lady with the sexy name has a very high opinion of herself, she really does again a good job on this record. The opener Existence is a typical Mortal Love song, very close to The Gathering, balancing the melodic, romantic and mystic elements of wave and goth. The single Adoration is another song where Mortal Love don't dare to try a risk.
But Mortal Love don't always follow the usual paths and try more experimental stuff. Serenity and Spine are two tracks where goth is spiced with crossover elements which is unusual, but surprisingly not bad. These songs are a bit harder than the typical gothic stuff.
The majority of the album is very traditional. But as the songs are well structured, instrumentated and sung, I suppose that fans from the goth and metal scenes will appreciate most parts of I Have Lost. Empathy for instance is very typical, but possibly the album's highlight. If it's too melodic for you, try the more bombastic Sanity. There is not a single blackout on the record and compared to the debut, Mortal Love have done the suggested improvement. They are at the moment one of the best goth bands.