Dark Princess - The World I’ve Lost
CD Info
2012
Out of Line Music
11 Tracks
English Lyrics
Every now and then, late at night, when insanity and clarity start to intertwine, I get these questions. Where did it all go wrong? When did the inmates come to rule the asylum? Back in the day, in my youth, America brought forth a musical category, Elvis maybe, the boys from the hills before him, those rock n rollers who made it happen. Yea, the Beatles moved it forward but they admit they got it from America. We had it all. . . and we let it get away. Today we have rappers with their pants down around their knees cussing and telling us they’re bad. We have boy bands who couldn’t have made it without the support of brain dead 12 year old girls. It’s like the gods are laughing at us, insanity is the coin of the realm. Elvis and the Everly Brothers are rolling around in their graves so fast they’re a natural energy source. What’s a brother to do?
Well, here’s a suggestion but don’t say it out loud, Nixon might hear you and release the launch codes. Try the Russians. I know that’s catamount to political suicide in the eyes of much of the American landscape, but then, most of them still think rational thought is against God’s law. So, with a careful eye to the potential for heavenly judgment and the fear of indiscriminate condemnation from the masses facing us, we’ll attempt to look at this work from the continent of the damned and judge it accordingly. And, we’ll even give it a cursory listen; this is music to rock your ass off. Which isn’t a crime yet, at least last time I checked. Of course, the day is young.
The savagery of the American musical landscape notwithstanding, there is still good metal out there, and Dark Princess is proof of that. I’ve been listening to the band for a long time, their previous vocalist, Olga Rominova, was a delight to the eyes, a symphony to the ears. Our new vocalist is Natalia Terekhova and she is sent from places beyond our understanding. Fortunately, I am a road man for the lords of karma, with understanding of these twisted developments and willing to beat a path towards metal understanding. In addition, I have friends from places where comprehension of these matters is commonplace, and they speak to me in strange tongues. Russian accented English, in this case. And here’s what they have to say about our dark haired chanteuse: " She's a laureate of different international contests, a finalist of the TV show ‘Secret of Success’ (a Russian project, though I don't have any idea about it), also a finalist of national selections for the 2008 and 2010 Eurovision song contest, a finalist of the international contest ‘Avon voices' (USA, 2011), an artist in the musical show 'The Broadway stars' (Russia) and 'The Moscow Four'." Thanks to my man Mike Surkoff for that. Clearly, the girl has talent recognizable beyond the everyday Oklahoma Talent of the Hour in Biblical Category Number One contest.
The CD should be released before long, maybe even in the musically devastated wasteland I call home since the previous one reportedly did well here, one can only hope. And pray it isn’t positioned marketing wise against the latest Jay-Z literary and musical nightmare. In these frugal times, we Americans only have money for the best, and, around here, the best most often has something less than international appeal. But, to the review we commence unabashed and with great personal joy. . .and another Canadian and cola. Res ipsa loquitur. Let the good times roll.
The World I’ve Lost is a pretty good title. It does, in fact, paint a picture of Gothic remorse, of visions beyond the pale. But, in that respect, it might be a little overrated. I mean, this isn’t the Gothic that describes the dreams of your dead grandmother crawling up your leg with a gun in one hand, a knife in the other and a smile on her face while describing the afterlife in terms that Faust would find frightening. And that graphic on the cover might also prove either too far in the direction of a Rorschach test or a wet dream. I’d suggest, in my inner shrink voice, that what we have here is more along the lines of top flight gothic oriented metal, done with some of the best vocals and background instrumental work I’ve heard in a long time, and there’s been a lot lately, at least outside the bounds of most of North America. So, as long as we’re comfortable with that delineation, we can proceed with the first track, Fight With Myself. And it doesn’t take long to introduce the sound. We get a conservative guitar line to introduce things, followed by a soft vocal, we’re lured into that place of romantic convictions, where illusion is the placebo of the damned:
Night… I'm waking from a terrible sleep. / Light… And now I see clearly- it's real.
You are leaving my home and burning my world. / Take away my dead soul.
There’s no sense to hope. / I know it's the moment to declare war.
Mortal fight is inside. Blood will spill every night. / You've betrayed my dreams!
Pain is all that I can feel!
And there’s where all Hell breaks loose. Guitars scream, drums crash and the vocals take the direction of the vampire in flight, rather like my ex when my existential reality contradicted hers. But we get some GREAT metal here. And, dear friends, it don’t get any worse, if anything it gets better. The second track is We Can Not Fly So High and, if anything, it’s an improvement. The pace moves to the death trance of a cocaine addict in silent rapture, where life requires the abdication of a Judas Goat and redemption is the sin of galloping neurosis. And, at the 3:22 mark, we get a scream that posits out lovely Russian in the realm of extraterrestrial delusion where only the practitioners of LSD-25 will find catholic comfort. A metal moment to remember.
However, maybe the finest track here is Everlasting Pain. Oh, the everlasting recounting of degradation and remorsefulness I could address with this accounting. The days of encounter with the latent sadomasochists and repressed psycho anarchists from my youth are the only preparation I have to recount this tale of metal devastation. The guitars begin the voyage, with a sound from the repressed dungeons of the mentally devoid. Then, it gets better. Our lovely Russian takes this one deep, the guitar players make sure innocence is not a participant and the drums take no prisoners. Clearly, sex is death.
You can pretty much go with anything on this release and not go wrong. I mean, death is an eventuality too; this is a more pleasant one. Point of No Return is another rocker, one where eternity has visiting rights, and isn’t that what we all want in the final analysis? It takes me to the time of collection, where the weak and infirm pay that final toll, where fear and greed and hoarding become the order of the day. The vocals are crushing, we get the sound of the damned here, they take us to that place where reality is condemned:
I can be the one, / Who won’t let you down.
Tired of useless war, /Should we pray for more?
Drawn into the sky, / Never asking "why",
Come and touch my flame. / Wanna play this game?
And I have no reason / To escape ’new chance to burn.
Pain’s so sweetly teasing… / Trust me, this is point of no return.
Relationships, yea, reality, in the broader context.
There are softer moments on the release. The Temple of Darkness begins with a soft guitar moment, the vocal is refined. But, the darkness remains, and the drums remind us that metal has certain requirements, most intended to stir the soul of the believer. And this may be the real meaning behind this Russian release. As you stare at the heavens, and observe the electric snake in all its dark glory you are inclined to pull the trigger. But Dark Princess warns us against hasty judgment, consider the options, study the habits, roll with the music. Even in the land of obliterated sound, there is hope, take it where you can get it.
And, you can get it here. The music business may be a cruel hoax for some, but, in this case, it’s truly worth the money. Don’t let it get by, Nixon may miss this one.
10 / 10
