After four years Elusive has released its second album, The Great Silence. This Norwegian gothic rock band consists of Tommy Olsson, a previous member of Theatre of Tragedy, on guitars, Jan K. Barkved as vocalist and Kristian Gundersen on guitars. The album starts of with “Ride”, a great up-tempo song that settles the mood for the rest of the album. After “Ride” follows “End of Trail” which is very similar in vein and then follows the somewhat slower songs starting with “Fading Rose”. This sets a darker more emotional undertone then the first few songs, like “the great silence”. The song writing is very strong; all songs surrounded by an epic flair including huge and overwhelming melodies and emotional vocals. After a while though, a lot of the songs are starting to sound alike. The voice is generally quite low and fits the music perfectly, but there are a few songs where he tries to sing a little higher and where you can notice that he can’t really reach the tones but they do add to the emotional value of the song. However this is a good album and well produced and worthy of a listen Very good album with very good songs like ”Ride” , “The great Silence” , “Summer” and “You” .
This will appeal to fans of Scream Silence, Wayne Hussey et al.

Ex-Voto's life spans many years and they are also the veterans of numerous compilations, also releasing the powerful "Anno Domini" in 1997 and "The Light of Day" a few years ago. With Doloroso, we see them at their tightest and most powerful.Seventeen songs with out filler comprimises.
Starting of with the sinister Seven Sisters, a lovely keyboard intro that leads into the traditional gothic rock guitar/bass arrangement soon followed by the baritone voice.But this is not surprising given their life span, and in a way it is rather refreshing to hear more of the traditional late 80's sounding gothik rock emerging again.
This is followed by the powerful "Spiritual Lies".The tracks don't let down the pace and steam rolls forth until we get to the perhaps, a rather surprising little number!
She Got it Big sounds a little dodgy as a title but it is utterly rock!A great example of just what this band has to offer.
Never seeming to slow down the pace stays steady and strong.Incorporating gritty realism lyrically and refraining from cheesy metaphors.Something almost everyone can relate to, that and a sense of these guys being sincere in what sinfg about.
This is a great release that will please fans of old but, I am sure, gather new ones to the fold, those who like sinister, dark and above all real gothik rock music!
Highly Recommended