Band:	Majeste Simphonia
Album:	Tragenda Dramatica
Style:	Black metal, Gothic metal
Release date:	November 2005

01. Love Craft
02. Hymn

Majeste Simphonia were formed in the beginning of 2005 in Larisa, Greece. A few months later, reaching June, they decided that the time had come to show the world a glimpse of their nocturnal power, unleashing their first promo-CD, "Tragenda Dramatica".

Well, the mixture of gothic and black metal elements these days isn't something uncommon. On the contrary, you will find many bands around that move in such musical soundscapes, harmonizing beautifully the darkness of black metal with the melancholy and fragile aesthetic of the gothic subculture/music. What really counts in the scene, though, is to find bands that are really worth-checking, offering compositions filled with inspiration and emotional beauty, because it seems that most of the bands of this specific sub-genre care more about their image and not so much about their music.

There are times, though, when the gothic aesthetic oriented image harmonizes beautifully with really inspired and fabulous compositions and Majeste Simphonia are one of those bands that really have a lot to offer, musically, emotionally, atmospherically and visually. "Tragenda Dramatica" consists only of two compositions with the band showing two different, yet so beautifully pacing together, sides of their personality, with "Love Craft" moving in powerful gothic/black metal soundscapes and "Hymn" in gothic/dark wave sounding pathways, having always an intense sense of drama.

The first song, "Love Craft", is powerful and at the same time atmospheric, having an elegiac feeling, enriched with an epic tone, with the guitar riffing sounding inspired and dynamic, the orchestrations evoking the ideal atmosphere in the air, the rhythm section doing well its role and Panos on vocals giving life in the most appropriate way to the poetic lyrics with his howling vocals. The second one, "Hymn", flows like a threnody, having a doleful approach in its overall feeling, with the vocals being either clean and melodic or more grunting, adding either way to melancholic aesthetic of the composition. The use of the synthesizer on this one reminded me a bit of some passages that are a trademark of the sound of Dreadful Shadows - whether it just came out this way or Mejeste Simphonia were inspired by Dreadful Shadows such passages sound really wonderful and definitely pace with the song!

All in all, "Tragenda Dramatica" is a fabulous first work, with professional production and sound, and I hope and wish that the band will keep on walking on pathways adorned with the withering leaves of sorrow, enriched with the beauty of a black orchid blooming in the dark?