Band:	Avec Tristesse
Album:	How Innocence Dies
Style:	Extreme progressive metal
Release date:	May 2004

01. I Am But One
02. All Love is Gone
03. A View Of The End
04. Escapism
05. Through My Eyes
06. Presence Ignored
07. Lost In Your Complexity
08. Of Emotions
09. As Years Pass By
10. Avant Les Ténèbres
11. Angel After Dark
12. Sceptical And Gone

Sophomore effort of these Brazilian Metallers. I must say that I was fairly impressed with their debut "Ravishing Beauty" the subtle combination of Doom, Gothic and Black Metal really made my day back then, the mix of aggressive parts with some moodier passages was really appealing. Now a couple of years after we hear a band that has matured musically, and this album is the proof of that, the combination of styles is not slight anymore, the band has decided to lean forward to harsher styles, making this album more Black Metal than the debut.

For those who hate Black Metal, don't be afraid, this is not your typical Black Metal ultra fast blast beats and satanic overtones, nah, Avec Tristesse, as their name hints, have a melancholic side, and this depressive side is what gives the music that wonderful texture.
Call it Doomy Black Metal, Melancholic Black Metal, Blackish Doom Metal, Dark Metal, The evolution is clear now.

Some details have been polished, like the presentation, the cover art and inside layout is just beautiful, the Cd, the photos, everything has been taking care of meticulously, the production is also tight and crisp, in other words, this looks and sounds better than their first album.

With a quick overview of the album we get a lot of surprises and different styles, the first song, the intro called "I Am But One" is a melancholic piece, something that Anathema could have done, after the intro stops "All Love Is Gone" comes bursting in with rabid blast beats and furious shrieks, "A View Of The End" follows the same path with more melodic passages, "Through Her Eyes" is another short song with a gloomy vibe, "Presence Ignored" is yet another short song with electronic samples and some female vocals in it, "Of Emotions" has a particular style that reminds me of Lacrimas Profundere, "Avant Les Ténèbres" is a short song with a folky vibe on it, followed by the sorrowful "Angel After Dark", to close the album is "Sceptical and Gone" a weird track if you ask me, begins with this acoustic guitar, then slowly builds up to reach a sudden stop when some strange sound samples begin to play.

All said and done, this album is really fantastic, I really enjoyed the progression of the music here, although I would had preferred that these guys lean more to the Doom side rather than the Black, but hey, this is fine with me anyways, my congratulations for a Brazilian band that is trying hard to make it out there, I'm sure we'll hear from these guys again.