I once read someone saying something along the lines of ‘Widow’s Weeds was the first and last Gothic metal album ever, and miles better than all the boring rip-offs it spawned’ – I think that sums up the album’s importance to the genre pretty well. What’s surprising about this album is there was never a Gothic music period – Tristania managed to pretty much create a genre by themselves on Widow’s Weeds; an incredible achievement.
The vocals on this album are its life and soul. They consist of a frequent yet always suitable exchange between harsh vocalist Morten Veland and female vocalist Vibeke Stene; the classic beauty and the beast spectacle. Morten sticks to his signature style of somewhere between Death and Black vocals; his voice is powerful (in the chorus of ‘Evenfall’ it’s as if he’s physically attacking the listener) yet contains lots of emotion (a lot more than most harsh vocalists), really delivering the pained aspect of the album. Vibeke is of course the polar opposite. Despite recording four more albums with the band after this, her voice is at its prime on Widow’s Weeds, sounding like an angel more than ever. Each and every vocal part she has is a highlight, delivering the utmost melancholic beauty to every track. There are also a few other dimensions to the vocals. Østen Bergøy makes his debut with the band on ‘Angellore’; while sounding a little muddy his baritone adds a whole other dimension to the music and makes up for the song being fairly simple otherwise. An eight person choir is also used; while barely popping up the chorus of ‘Evenfall’, it is one of the best things I’ve ever heard, really representing the gothic feel of this record.
The guitars, despite their poor (dissonant) production, play terrific doom-influenced riffs (dark and slow) but also some faster groovier ones (see the chorus of ‘Angellore’), Black Metal-influenced tremolo picked (‘Wasteland’s Caress’) and even some warm acoustic passages. The minimalistic (for Metal) drumming is incredible – the intricate bass drum patters mean no beat is ever boring, the use of cymbals for accents and feel adds the necessary spice to each passage and the snare drum is used effectively for very satisfying fills. The bass playing, like in all Tristania is of high quality, adding the necessary background to the music with the drums. Just like the bass drum patterns, the bass lines are always fitting and interesting. Finally, the violin and cello, where used, add an aspect of beauty which can only be achieved by a classical instrument – the violin solo in the climax of the fantastic ‘December Elegy’ contains so much emotion it is difficult not be moved by it.
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