Band:	Todesbonden
Album:	Sleep Now, Quiet Forest
Style:	Atmospheric doom metal, Atmospheric gothic metal
Release date:	June 2008

01. Surrender To The Sea
02. Surya Namaskara
03. Trianon
04. Aengus Óg's Fiddle
05. Fading Empire
06. Ghost Of The Crescent Moon
07. Flow My Tears
08. Sailing Alone
09. Lullaby [The Wickerman Movie Soundtrack cover]
10. Battle Of Kadesh
11. Sleep Now, Quiet Forest

With "Sleep Now, Quiet Forest", the American female singer Laurie Ann Haus is finally back in front of the Metal scene. Her last EP with Todesbonden was out in 2004 and this is only four years later that the band finally releases their first official album. One more time, Laurie will invite you in a magical journey in the world of Gothic music and definitely you'll not have the right to decline it.

"Sleep Now, Quiet Forest" is a lovely album of real Gothic music. Todesbonden is not like After Forever or Nightwish, the American band plays real gothic music. So ok Laurie sings with a nice "operatic" voice but the music is a lot darker and slower. "Sleep Now, Quiet Forest" is not an album of Power Metal with a female singer and that's good to hear such releases sometime. Despite an Epic side that we can find with Epica or After Forever the main difference here is that the music is really dark and slow. The riffs are insistent and even a bit doomy but what I like the most in the music of Todesbonden is the really good "world" music influences that we can hear in the compositions. You probably all know Dead Can Dance and even if I cannot compare the bands, musically speaking, it's cool to see that Laurie is able to produce "Arabian" voices a la Lisa Gerard and that of course the music of the band follow these melodies with some really good arrangements. This is in my opinion the best parts in the new album, some other Symphonic things being a bit to classic and common for me. Maybe that the album is not enough dark and too influenced by European bands sometime but all in all, this is a lot more Gothic than 90% of the releases that you can listen to nowadays and of course I'm sure that the people who likes Gothic and old Celtic influences will love the release.

"Sleep Now, Quiet Forest" is a good release, maybe that it's a bit sad that we don't have more songs like the really good medieval "Flow My Tears" and "Angus Og's Fiddle" and that we have ones like "Trianon" which are too commercial to my eyes. But all in all this is a good album and not a commercial one so if you want real Gothic music you should be happy here. Laurie Ann Haus is still a great singer even if must admit that her voice will maybe bore some people especially the ones who have enough of such kind of vocalists (and they're more and more unfortunately). On the other hand the music is well played and the production of the release is really good and it's really easy to feel nostalgia through the violins or harps.

"Sleep Now, Quiet Forest" is a good album but will it be a masterpiece in the eyes of the fans of the genre I'm not so sure. Not because the album is bad but because it's not so original in the end and doesn't give anything new to the listeners. Don't misunderstand me too, the first album of Todesbonden is solid, and after all this is just a first release. If in the future the band find the way to add some originality and personality to its music, it should be perfect. "Sleep Now, Quiet Forest" is a good album of Gothic Metal, not the most original one but really good if you like this kind of music.