vindemiatrix-oncehiddenfromsight-reviews

Review from Transcending Obscurity Webzine

Sat, 16 Aug 2014 23:28:19 +0100

From: Transcending Obscurity Webzine

Published: August 15, 2014

Vin De Mia Trix is such a beautiful band. Rarely do you come across such evocative and progressive Doom Metal music. It’s at once remindful of Ennui, especially the band’s recent material. In that, it’s almost as wistful and employs stirring leads to create a dramatic effect against the backdrop of plodding, despondent music. The band doesn’t seem to adhere to the firm Funeral Doom Metal template and like Esoteric, dabbles in areas outside the box. Its path isn’t a well-worn one and it seeks to explore different methods for expressing the music. It requires patience but it isn’t something that’s off-kilter or too artistic – to deem so is almost unfair. Quercus is one that’s truly artistic without probably giving a shit for the conventional norm but in comparison this Ukrainian band is a lot more digestible and atmospheric. More importantly, the music has sentient emotions and tangible ones at that. It just requires some time to wrap your head around it as the music slowly and elegantly unfurls its facets. It’s not as if it requires effort either – it’s just naturally moving, floating through almost, and all you have to do is give it a chance. It’s mesmerizing, slow yet striking and it’s hard not to get moved or stunned into silence when this is on.

Already the band is better than the stereotypical Funeral Doom Metal bands because it’s delving into a more atmospheric style, one without the fundamental underpinnings. Where it goes off tangent is when clean mournful almost vocals are employed, changing the pattern of the music. At such times that band is vaguely reminiscent of My Dying Bride circa ‘The Angel and the Dark River’. It seems a little misplaced as does the momentum hampering instrumental songs right between the important ones of the album. They’re like unnecessary breaks in a suspenseful movie that has managed to intrigue you from the opening tunes. Once you’re off the track, it’s a little difficult to get back on it, especially when it comes to this style of music. It’s already so slow and moody, it better do more to capture and more importantly, retain your attention.

There’s even a band member of Kauan, which is one of the most magnificent bands in existence especially during the ‘Aava Tuulen Maa’ era. The melodies are sublime but consistency would’ve made this album all the more special. It already is in a way phenomenal and doing something that most bands aren’t. It’s about time someone does something different in this Doom Metal style of music and Vin De Mia Trix is doing it remarkably well. Indeed, this is an outstanding release with shades of melancholy and beautiful if gentle pacing so as to fully enhance the emotions it’s trying to portray on a canvas rarely used.

The artwork is something you don’t see every day – the pattern is unique, as is the pattern of the song structuring. Or the song placement. Almost every song is important and some are more patient unlike me. There is an underlying theme almost as the music suggests because it’s somewhat unpredictable till the last song. The Death Metal influences are there and the music oscillates between the heavier and mellower parts but not in a jarring way, rather in a way that’s symbolic of life where chaos and tranquility have to be endured. You can’t take anything for granted. Nor can you afford to miss out on this gem of an album that deserves a place in your collection simply on its merit of daring originality or a valiant attempt to bend the norm.

Reviewed by: Kunal Choksi

Review from Heathen Harvest Periodical

Sun, 20 Jul 2014 22:10:55 +0100

From: Heathen Harvest Periodical

Published: July 12, 2014
Original Link

If anything is most clear to me while writing this, it’s that Vin de Mia Trix wrote and recorded Once Hidden from Sight with the best of intentions. Impressions of melancholy and inner-looking sadness seep from every moment of the Ukrainian act’s debut. Though the death-doom hybrid genre is rarely known for its urgency, Vin de Mia Trix’s painfully slow, hour-long testament to woe and solitude seeks to test the listener’s patience. Through their plodding pace, predictable dynamics and atmospheric focus, Vin de Mia Trix come off as a sort of Esoteric-lite, at times echoing the twisted spirit of the UK masters, but often coming up empty in terms of satisfying song structure and convention. Once Hidden from Sight is the end-result of some not inconsiderable effort at the hands of its craftsmen, but the homogeneous sequence of similarly melodic, brooding melodies and chord progressions grows tiring long before the album is over.

If I might enlist the help of a tactical cliché, Vin de Mia Trix have bitten off more than they can chew here. It’s a fairly common misstep in the case of debut releases, really; a band conceivably has all the time in the world to make a first album, and it’s perfectly understandable that they would want first impressions to reflect the variety of material they have to offer. In this case, Vin de Mia Trix apparently spent three years piecing their opus together, the results of which — as one might expect — offer plenty of well-crafted, powerful ideas. Once Hidden from Sight seldom departs from its sombre, plodding tempo, but the band has still managed to feature an unwieldy number of concepts per song. The potentially Arthur Conan Doyle-inspired “A Study in Scarlet” is a little more concrete than the rest (thanks to a cautious build-up and enticing lead motif), but the compositions lack a clear sense of rising action. Most of Vin de Mia Trix’s take on the emotive death-doom formula can be described as a leisurely game of pass between growled vocals and melodic guitar leads, the likes of which being just as sombre as you might expect.

Of that latter half of their sound, there is another dichotomy: a game between the heavy parts that are all-too-typical of the death-doom aesthetic, and lighter, yet every bit as depressive, instrumental ambiance. This theme of duality runs heavily throughout the album, not least of all on the cover, which evokes the perennial concept of the yin-yang. There’s plenty of thoughts and concepts to be gleaned from Once Hidden from Sight. As mentioned, the album is a work of some considerable thought and effort. What’s ultimately lacking is the structure and urgency that would have made these concepts otherwise exciting.

In jamming their compositions with as many like-sounding ideas as possible, Vin de Mia Trix have inadvertently accomplished the exact opposite of what I presume they were aiming for. Instead of constantly refreshing and stimulating me as a listener, it becomes all too easy to drift off; the ideas begin to blur together, and with that, the potential for true emotional impact is gutted. Unsurprisingly, the track that has impressed me most is the one that truly stands out from the rest. “Là où le Rêve et le jour s’Effleurèrent” possesses the same sleepy vibe as the band’s doom material, but it draws from a much different musical palette — in this case, specifically Romantic-era classical piano. For a few moments, Vin de Mia Trix absolve themselves of all potential comparisons to My Dying Bride and other doom stalwarts; instead, I’m reminded of the work of composer Frédéric Chopin. I really enjoy the musical risk Vin de Mia Trix took with this departure; even so, the track feels detached from the rest of the album, and would have been more effective had the band found a way to properly integrate it with their regular style.

Vin de Mia Trix’s seemingly rhapsodic dive into doom is promising and — save for occasionally muffled-sounding production — well-executed. I am certain that there is a great album lurking somewhere within Once Hidden from Sight, and there are times where I even get audible hints of it here. Unfortunately, Vin de Mia Trix’s everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach to the death-doom style is frustrating, moreso than anything. An album with this many individual melodic ideas usually takes many listens before it starts to feel familiar. The problem is that Once Hidden from Sight isn’t engaging enough to warrant all that listening. Vin de Mia Trix are ambitious and well-intentioned here, but their failure to condense and energize the music has resulted in an album that frankly challenges the listener’s patience more than anything.

Rating: 2.5/5

Reviewed by: Conor Fynes

Review from Volumes of Sin Webzine

Thu, 20 Mar 2014 21:21:02 +0100

From: Volumes of Sin Webzine

Published: March 20, 2014

Original Link

Founded in 2007, Vin de Mia Trix are a four member death/doom metal band hailing from the Ukraine. To date the group have released one EP and one demo, in 2010 and 2012 respectively. Since their formation the band has seen a few line-up changes and currently only have one founding member remaining; guitarist Nightspirit. After numerous gigs and tons of self promotion the band have found themselves on the wings of Hypnotic Dirge Records and Solitude Productions, both labels issuing this release in different parts of the world. What doom infusions does the debut offering Once Hidden from Sight conjure?

Simply put, Once Hidden from Sight is an album of mounting frustration to the listener. An elegant burlesque show with an anticlimactic strip tease as the end result in an all too artsy undertaking. Now don't get me wrong, there's absolutely nothing wrong with poetic elegance and a fragile artistic frame that demands the audience to pay attention; Satan knows, the mushy lumps that homo sapiens deem as their brains these days need a work out. But among all of this romanticized French styled abstractness there's a noticeable ambiguousness to the material. The musical stylings presented are memorable of Ahab, though not as complex in their technicality nor as admirable and substantial. The album itself feels like a mirror of self reflection, and even a breath of hot air upon it's surface will cause it to shatter due to it's frailty.

The largest portion of the content is as follows. The lead guitar work is made up of long, drawn out one-strings that are clean and cold in tone, which gives the material it's Ahab sound. These melodies rise up into great, unsupported pillars of sound as the rhythm guitar seems like a sleeping Kraken laying on the ocean floor, rarely arising from its dreaming slumber to pluck one deep, rumbling ring-out power chord every now and then. The drums act as crashing waves as they contribute far too many cymbal crashes and hi-hat hits throughout the elongated content, using sparingly any bass kicks, snares or toms. The bass is the only element that supports itself without relying on anything else with loud, deep, twangy licks and lines. These elements are all conjoined in a tempo reserved for most funeral doom metal, but after a while the tracks tend to bleed together.

The frustration begins to set in during "Là où le rêve et le jour s’effleurèrent" and "La persistència de la memòria", both of which are glorified piano solos with ridiculous length. If the former track was removed entirely and replaced instead by the latter track, the content would prove to be in much better standing. The latter song comes in at a time when the material is beginning to heat up and break away from the solid monotony of a stagnant tempo but is oddly enough the better of the two piano instrumentals. It's also painfully obvious that these two songs are attempting to be haunting, sophisticated memorable melodies but their dire length and absence of livelihood makes them a trial rather than a pleasure.

However the record is not all gloom. The repetition is occasionally broken up by bouts of heavy riffing and slightly elevated tempos, such as in "Nowhere is Here", "Metamorphosis" and "मातृ". The two vocal styles at work also play a big part in the atmosphere of the album, the deep characterized growls is the only truly supporting feature of the cold lead guitar and creates a sense of dread in the listener while the Gregorian monk type clean chants fill the audience with a sense of relief.

Although Vin de Mia Trix spent three years perfecting Once Hidden from Sight, it appears as though they may have put a little too much artistic obscurity into their meaning and not enough detail into the actual album compositions. What can be heard in this funeral doom inspiration has already been done in better quality by Ahab, just without the enormous piano solos. In the future the rhythm guitar will need to pick up a bit more work to support the lead and it would be decent to hear something other than mainly percussion from the drums.

Rating: 5.5/10

Reviewed by: Ville Thorne

Review from Forgotten Path Magazine; Issue 6

Wed, 19 Mar 2014 23:58:29 +0100

From: Forgotten Path Magazine; Issue 6

Published: November 2014

Magazine Website

It is strongly appreciable that the album “Once Hidden from Sight” has sprang out from the post-Soviet block. This time, these Ukrainians Vin de Mia Trix bring out their debut full-length album. I rush to say that this release is lonesome. What does this metaphor mean? The CD really substantially lacks of solidity, depth and rudimentary heaviness. In those places where two guitars (rhythmic and solo) should constitute an unbeatable duet, the rhythm just hangs by a thread and the vocals, even the entire music is kept in the hands of weak and yearning solos. I mean, in the hands of solitary solos... It doesn’t reach my ear in any way. Whereas, I would strongly desire for a real, melancholic and brutal Death/Doom sound...

While talking about that appreciable sound from the East, I mean a particular standard timbre of vocals. Besides that, Vin de Mia Trix creation is quite close to the music of Saturnus, but again, it couldn’t be equated to it not just by its massiveness, but also by the general level of creativity. Essentially, this more than an hour lasting album mostly lacks of creative songs and great guitar riffs. Some songs’ chords even induce boredom (for example, “A Study in Scarlet”) and allow the forming of a wrong view about the remaining parts of the CD. But perhaps everything isn’t that bad. It is just a Melodic Death/Doom Metal, which contains too many attempts to make something out of nothing. The album is short of concrete material and integrity. It starts to improve from the middle, but in general, Vin de Mia Trix are way closer to Frailty, who are still not able to spring out, and become the ornament of the Russian stage of Doom Откровения Дождя by their creative potential and musical direction.

Rating: 7/10

Reviewed by: Odium

Review from Aristocrazia Webzine

Mon, 10 Mar 2014 22:49:45 +0100

From: Aristocrazia Webzine

Published: March 10, 2014

Original Link

*Google translation of Italian review

The Vin de Mia Trix are not a new knowledge to aristocrazia webzine: a little less than three years ago, the writer was in fact the pleasure of writing about "El Sueno De La Razon Produce Monstruos" , the debut ep Ukrainian. Now it is with renewed pleasure that I present "Once Hidden From Sight", the first test for the long haul.

Important to emphasize is the fact that the boys have not changed the musical direction previously undertaken, although greatly increased and improved: songs like "Silent World", "A Study in Scarlet" and "Metamorphosis" sink roots in precisely the Death-Doom more classic, especially bringing to mind the atmosphere of My Dying Bride suffering the most. We are dealing, therefore, with the complete synthesis of the style called: arpeggios filled with sadness rest on granitic riffs mold Doom and Death, interspersed with occasional references Funeral and accompanied by a nice growl that illustrates catacomb harrowing visions of inner worlds.

As will be easy to see, as played by Our is nothing new, but their music is really skilful in winding the listener between their turns painful, without power, darkness and oppression, frankly I think that we should not ask for anything else in such a disc. The skill of Vin de Mia Trix does not stop here: the delicate atmospheric developments of "Nowhere Is Here", as well as the long and evocative piano interludes which are the backbone of "Là Où Le Rêve Et Le Jour S'effleurèrent "and" The persistencia de la Memoria ", make the album really rich and functional.

Although "Once Hidden From Sight" is a work containing solutions well known to all lovers of these soundscapes, clever variations on the theme and flashes of personality compositional make sure that the listener to remain vigilant and attentive (despite the substantial total duration) . In other words, we are faced with a test that will surely be highly appreciated by those who love Death-Doom, the real one, mournful and oppressive to the right place.

Reviewed by: Gabriele Strano

Review from Chronicles of Chaos Webzine

Mon, 03 Mar 2014 21:08:49 +0100

From: Chronicles of Chaos Webzine

Published: March 2, 2014

Original Link

This album is a co-operation, joint venture of sorts or a co-production if you will, between Canadian Hypnotic Dirge Records and Russian Solitude Productions, whereas the band Vin de Mia Trix originates from The Ukraine, and from whom 'Once Hidden From Sight' is a first full-length recording.

The band mixes a plethora of lyrical themes and languages, from English to French to Sanskrit, apparently bearing some spiritual / philosophical esoteric agenda of sorts; the lyrics are thoughtful, thought-provoking and show a heightened mastery of the English language. The album spans over an hour's worth of music, and like the Yin and Yang insinuating cover art, the music captured in this album is pretty much the very same thing: briefly heavy and robust, and suddenly maneuvres itself in 180 degrees, transfiguring into being totally neoclassical and laid-back in essence.

It opens with engaging high-pitched, tremolo-heavy repetitive riffage and a certain guitar tone that could have been a take on My Dying Bride's "Sear Me MCMXCIII " (from the _Turn Loose the Swans_ album), but then, after a minute or so, it goes separate ways, delivering a sort of unorthodox doom/death metal involving some clear, deep and occasionally somewhat tortured baritone-like singing and a couple of piano interludes. However, the My Dying Bride signature is ever present, hovering like a ghost above the atmosphere and the riffs.

Vin de Mia Trix are capable musicians, bearing a somewhat individualistic, if not singular, message to the doom-tinged death metal niche; by no means are they the heralds of an aesthetic revolution, but they most certainly bring something fresh to the table.

The songwriting is intelligent and the instruments are well handled; the musical / classical academic education of at least some of the group is well pronounced and conveyed throughout the recording.

High-pitched introductions and suspense-building melodies usually meet every metallic track, and both song openings and the body of each song excel in highlighting some complex rhythms and intricate drum work, as well as a very dominant bass guitar that pushes the plodding openers to the edge of their contemplative tranquillity and down into the turmoil of the heavier death metal moments -- a free fall of brutality versus finesse.

Some of the riffs are extremely potent, as well as the growling vocals, however as soon as the pace picks up, the band decide to screw with the dynamics and offer sort of an intra-ballad within each song and in a way ruin the expressive powers of good old brutality and dense atmosphere, as soon as they dawn upon the listener.

It seems as if the song openings and the clear-sung lamented intermissions from the general metallic sound get to be highlighted more than the actual metal ingredient, what ultimately results in a recording with very strange dynamic attributes and a sense that the band go to lengths in order to show off their classical education and musical knowledge at the cost of losing the momentum and power they worked so hard to engineer.

When the album finishes, the listener is left with a question mark about the happenings within the recording, whether it was a metal album one was listening to or maybe a neoclassical piece with some distorted guitars thrown in.

Although the aforementioned My Dying Bride influence is all over the place, Vin de Mia Trix don't incorporate the more laid-back, non-metallic parts as seamlessly well into their death metal as My Dying Bride did on their early recordings and unlike the former, Vin de Mia Trix's music hence sounds a tad disjointed and less intense or dark.

Nevertheless, 'Once Hidden From Sight' is a well-rounded, highly professional and interesting an album whose qualities abound, showcasing a super intelligent group of musicians who might have been too ambitious and too pretentious for their own good, in their effort to prove something to someone; it's an eclectic recording with many positive points, mainly in the songwriting department as well as in its sophistication factor, but unfortunately it also suffers from the band's undying ability to nip every good metallic riff in the bud when they see one.

'Once Hidden From Sight' is thinking man's doom-oriented death metal with an added value and an intellectual edge, most suitable for fans of My Dying Bride with a twist, but neither as metallic nor monolithic as the latter; My Dying Bride lite, anyone?

Rating: 7/10

Reviewed by: Chaim Drishner

Review from Metal Wave Webzine

Sun, 23 Feb 2014 10:03:25 +0100

From: Metal Wave Webzine

Published: February 22, 2014

Original Link

*Google translation of Italian review

The Vin de Mia Trix (do not ask me what it means or what language it is) despite the album title in English and some song titles in French and the other in Spanish, are Ukrainians from Kiev, and with this "Once in the welter sight" come their debut album doom / death metal in the long run.

The music proposed by VDMT is profound, sometimes quite vague on riffs and austere, more often than not to insist on a dark and gloomy mood of the songs when you go up, while in the more death and minimalist songs become less abrasive and scratching, like the beginning of "Nothing is here." Broadly speaking, therefore, imagine a mood comparable to certain things early November's Doom "Amidst ITS hallowed mirth," or a doom never too slow and always very guitar oriented, but at the same time rarely gets really aggressive and powerful.

listening of 'album but a glimpse of a band that re pretty well all the trappings of doom / death, with use of a certain personality, heaviness, and abrasive bleak moments, but alas, each of these elements must be developed for me for good. None of the weapons used by Vin de Mia Trix is lethal in this album. An example summary is easily given dall'opener "A Study in Scarlet", where the sound quality too soft ends to work, by contrast, death in parts, but it makes the slower ones too blurry, a lot of ballasting the track. Among the other songs more than once seem too stretched. And it is on the shorter tracks, such as the beautiful "The sleep of reason" that VDMT fail to shine, with a bitter and twisted mood to start really winning song, and "Silent World" that hits the target for a shot compositional really good.

short: "Once hidden in sight" is a good record, but it has some ingenuity filing that end up spoiling the good that is done. The band does indeed need to focus on the intensity of the atmosphere, increasing the repetition of songs and transporting the same. And maybe cut something: for what reason 12 minutes of the album are composed of two tracks (the third and sixth) that are made only from the piano? It really is something so necessary to insert two tracks of that type? Personally, no.

"Once hidden in sight" is not bad, but it is an album that has some typical defects of the debut album. I would recommend them for now to completists of doom / death metal, but from the next album, I expect more.

Rating: 67/100

Reviewed by: Snarl

Review from A Dead Spot of Light Zine

Sun, 23 Feb 2014 09:47:03 +0100

From: A Dead Spot of Light Zine

Published: February 19, 2014

Original Link

Ambitious … yes, ambitious seems to be a proper term for describing the performance of the band on this recording. Ambitious. A glance over the track list reveals this aspect readily. Also the name of the band fits into this perception quite neatly. Therefore, the aspect of putting all elements, facets and impressions together into a coherent picture is anything but easy. Is the track title of the opener a reference to the eponymous Sherlock Holmes novel? Why do the instrumentals have French titles? Actually, why are these instrumentals necessary at all? And why this odd use of characters for the last composition? What does मातृ (mātṛ) even refer to? Yet all of these issues should be put aside for a moment, because one should ask whether the music can even be of such quality as to be on par with the speculations that arise from these impressions?

Three years in the making – according to the bandcamp entry, the band spent this time frame for the creation of this album. Yet it feels somewhat odd to read this, simply because what information can actually be gathered from this? With such a statement thrown towards the audience, is it not the case that the bar is set to considerably high(er) levels for the band? Especially as there seems to have been no reason to do so in the first place.

Anyway, the Ukrainians thought otherwise and dare to come over as somehow outré, novel and out of the ordinary. A Manichean surface, while the underlying basis lacks the proper pillars to back it up or rather support the necessary height. “Once Hidden from Sight” is by no means a bad release. Having been produced quite amply, the music is as such as to create a certain kind of fascination and to have enough facets to avoid some of the all too common pitfalls. With growls and clean vocals -- with a type of singing that is quite enjoyable and harmonious -- enough facets and contrasts are created to keep all going. Yet, this is just one facet. Undoubtedly most would admit and agree, but Vin de Mia Trix leave the listener alone in the desert at times. In barren fields to which the music tends to turn at times but also abandon all too often. Là où le rêve et le jour s’effleurèrent (track number three) and La persistència de la memòria (track number six) are both non-metal instrumentals and each of a considerable length. Somehow they meander along, bereft of any connection to whatever basis that might have ever been. Like a riddle with too many clues to unravel the mysteries of its core. Aside from this, also the other compositions are by no means loaded with metal parts. As can be suspected from a band of this genre – doom and death metal –, calm moments with less emphasis on the heaviness and aggressiveness make a distinct part of the concept of the band. This alone is not what is there to criticise. It is the amount in which it all plays out and the total share of it in comparison with other elements. At this point the Ukrainians loose the touch with the audience.

It is difficult to take a dive into the flow of the melodies, because there is a constant disruption of it. Be it in or at times even between the compositions, Vin de Mia Trix demand a considerable amount of attention from the listener, would this person attempt to grasp the meaning of it all in its fullest and on how all can be interpreted. Sadly this has an effect on all that should be praised about this album. Indeed, there are some nice melodies and arrangements at times, also the vocals tend to have a special touch to them. There are even some rare moments in which all hangs together nicely and coherently. But in the end their share drowns in an endless sea of pointless calmness, whose part drags all down into a realm of sedated activity.

Bottom line:

Arty – feel free to interpret this term as you wish and desire.

Rating: 55/100

Reviewed by: oneyoudon'tknow

Review from Pure Nothing Worship Magazine; Issue 2

Mon, 17 Feb 2014 03:46:36 +0100

From: Pure Nothing Worship Magazine; Issue 2

Published: March 2014

Website Link

"Once Hidden From Sight" is the first full-length of these Ukrainian doomsters. This album offers more than an hour of atmospheric death / doom, which irresistibly reminds of My Dying Bride and Mourning Beloveth. The album is opened by a nine minute composition “A Study In Scarlet “ which starts with a guitar, almost identical to the one in “The Cry of Mankind”. Even the remainder of the song is based on the riff similar to the one in “The Angel and The Dark River” album, from the mentioned legends. The album moves more or less in the same direction, and there is nothing more to add to that. On this disc there is simply no originality. The production is also like on the mentioned album, except the vocals being much worse. Not to bad for a debut, but lacking a great dose of originality.

Reviewed by: Aleksandar Nenad

Review from Rock Freaks Webzine

Fri, 31 Jan 2014 00:27:30 +0100

From: Rock Freaks

Published: January 30, 2014

Original Link

Apart from Drudkh and the side projects associated with Drudkh, I don't actually know any bands from Ukraine. The doom metallers in Vin de Mia Trix mean to change that with "Once Hidden From Sight", their debut album. The band has existed since 2007, but they only released a demo and an EP before this album's release in late 2013. Clocking in at just over an hour in length, it's an ambitious debut showcasing the many different strengths that the band and its members possess, but also the weaknesses of a young band trying to find their place in today's world of doom metal.

Vin de Mia Trix play death/doom, or doom/death as some insist on calling the genre. The sound is quite reminiscent of some of the genre's heavyweights like Saturnus and Mourning Beloveth; melodic leads interspersed between crushing doom riffs, slowly pounding drums that delve into mid-tempo territory at times, and a vocalist competent in utilizing both his cavernous growled vocals as well as clean vocals occasionally when it fits the atmosphere. During the course of the album, Vin de Mia Trix impress on many occasions with great riffs and interesting compositions that at times hint at the psychedelic doomsters in Esoteric. It can be quite difficult to write an hour's worth of doom metal and keep it interesting all the way through, and Vin de Mia Trix have added a major ingredient to the album that makes it seem like a very varied effort: two piano interludes, "Là où le rêve et le jour s'effleurèrent" and "La persistència de la memòria", played by Alexander Vynogradoff who also performs bass, some guitar and backing vocals. The interludes are so long that it almost seems wrong to call them interludes.

Those two instrumental piano tracks are absolutely excellent and could easily stand on their own, but in the context of the album as a whole they don't really benefit the sound and feeling of the album; because the interludes are so long and so different (and I guess also because they're so good), it doesn't quite feel right going back into the regular tracks of the album. As for the rest of the record, songs like "The Sleep of Reason" and "A Study in Scarlet" are definitely good tracks, but there's an overall lack of consistency in the album. The great ideas, the melodies that stay in your head, they don't really come together in the end. This could partially be blamed on the production that feels quite thin at times, but it also has to be noted that something is missing in terms of songwriting.

I want to like this debut album from Ukraine's Vin de Mia Trix, but despite endless repeated listens it has never really hit me the way I thought it would. Specific parts of certain songs remind me of the combined potential that these guys have, but on "Once Hidden From Sight" there are many things that could potentially have turned out a lot better. However, it is clear that the potential is indeed there when listening to this debut album, so Vin de Mia Trix is at the very least a name to look out for in the future..

Rating: 7/10

Reviewed by: MST