Band:	Where She Wept
Album:	The Erotic Portrait
Style:	Black metal, Death metal, Gothic doom metal
Release date:	2004

01. Octobris
02. Cloaked In Dusk (Act I)
03. The Wooden Bird (Act II)
04. Religious Art

For being a self-released effort, it looks very nice let me tell you. Where She Wept comes from Niagara Falls, New York and they play what can be described as Doom-Death with atmospheric moments and some slight Gothic influences.

Don't be fooled by the number of tracks in the Cd because songs are quite lengthy, only the first one is short, the rest of songs last 10 minutes or so. Band relies in 2 things to create their sound, vocals and keyboards; while vocals are harsh and aggressive, keyboards give an ethereal touch to the music, especially in some calm breaks in the songs. Clean voices can be also found here, the weepy, gloomy style of the clean vocalist reminded me of My Dying Bride's Aaron Stainthorpe.

Opener track "Octobris" is the shortest song of the album, and is the most aggressive one, drumming and riffing is insane here, however and despite the brutality displayed, the song always maintain its melancholic touch. "Cloaked In Dusk" is a long song that could be easily fit in a My Dying Bride album (especially in the first 5 minutes). My favorite is next, "The Wooden Bird" is a excellent song filled with so many textures and layers, has some catchy parts, melancholic ones and aggressive sections, is also the longest song in the Cd (12 minutes long). Closer track "Religious Art" has a catchy keyboard in the beginning, followed by an equally catchy guitar, later the songs turns out to be the most progressive of the band with long instrumental sections, almost symphonic arrangements and aggressive drumming.

A great band indeed, sadly no record contract yet, I would love to listen some of these songs recorded with proper equipment, because if the production is not bad at all, I think it could be much better, a crisp sound could do wonders for the band. Anyway, I definitively place my bet on this band, best of lucks.