Have you ever encountered little grey men marching down a road of black brick?.. If not, the new album from LAKE OF TEARS gives you a chance to finally meet these restless inhabitants of dreams. Nine tracks blending gothic melancholy with explosive irony invite us into the already familiar Fantasy Land, but... through the "black" entrance (befitting the cover art). And here, hungry for hard-earned coins, we find trickster decorators, gorgon actresses, and the transgalactic taxi itself -- fancy racing the Moon?
As you travel along this exotic panorama, with each passing minute you fall deeper in love with this magnificent wonder. For where else can you hear KISS, DIRE STRAITS, and DIMMU BORGIR performing on the same stage? Where else do you get the chance to cast a net across a genuine ocean of imagery, straining glacial water from the sparkling scales of golden fish?
Many have noted that with this new work, LAKE OF TEARS returned to the era of "A Crimson Cosmos," yet even those whose hearts and minds are firmly attached to the yellow-red teardrops of "Forever Autumn" will not be disappointed: tracks like "The Organ" and "Dystopia" precisely and deeply convey an otherworldly beauty reminiscent of the Pushkin era. Undeniable hits include the opening number -- "The Greymen" -- and the gut-wrenching "Rainy Day Away"; the title track is a wanderer's song, trudging through ringing emptiness toward a steel horizon.
One cannot overlook the insane, tormenting, quasi-electronic, borderline-alive sound -- a powerful instrument for spiritual liposuction. In a word, painted with familiar colors, "Black Brick Road" stuns with its richness and saturation, and alongside the works of ORPHANED LAND and FINNTROLL, stands as a contender for Album of the Year.