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| Mortal Love |
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Line-up: CAT: Catherine Nyland - Vocals Lev: Hans Olav Kjeljebakken - Bass Rain6: Lars Bæk - Guitar Gabriah: Ørjan Jacobsen - Guitar Damous: Pål Wasa Johansen -Drums Mulciber - Keyboards, Programming "The lady supplying the dulcet tones of these Norwegian newcomers is actually called Cat. I can assure any Eastenders fans out there that she couldn’t be further removed from her celluloid namesake. (...) You have to cast nods in the directions of other gothic metal bands such as Flowing Tears, for sure but that certainly doesn’t spoil the tapestry that unfolds around this. Some tracks such as Beautiful One simply meander around in a dreamy ballad and never really pick up the pace but the flow is one that hypnotises and takes you into its depths. Keyboard sonatas tinkle away and at times huge pulses of noise ominously build up in the background and rattle the speakers. The Lacuna-esque (yeah I know) stomp is evident with tracks such as Falling For You and you find yourself waiting for the male accompaniment that never actually arrives. Instead we have an electric violin putting in an appearance and harmonising in its place. In The Sun should go down with those of you who fondly remember the likes of All About Eve but then we get a male whispered passage stating that love has been rejected for another, putting a dampener on the sunny feel. Flowing guitars then lead us into the maudlin rhythms of Hate To Feel full of broken-hearted remorse, which will surely touch anyone who has trodden these paths themselves (and who hasn’t)? This is a graceful octet of tracks and a fine first release from a band that has the scope to become massive on the Continent."
-- Pete, live4metal.com
 ½ 2002:
All The Beauty "Mortal Love are a female fronted gothic / romantic metal band from Norway, who's debut album 'All The Beauty' seems to have crept out with precious little fanfare. And in a way that's a bit of a shame as they've added quite a refreshing twist to their music. Obvious focal point of the band is lead singer Cat whose soft, seductive tones remind me very much of a cross between Sabine Edelsbacher (Edenbridge) and Nightwish's Tarja Turunen. A little less grandiose than either Edenbridge or Nightwish, Mortal Love rely on rumbling riffs and tastefully arranged keyboards to create a highly charged, atmospheric sound which explores a variety of moods and emotions through songs such as Crave Your Love, Falling For You, and I Want To Die. Very well presented, and surprisingly sophisticated, I guess the closest comparison I can draw is Candlemass meets Nightwish - interesting"
-- D. Cockett
2005:
I Have Lost ... Tracklisting:01. Existence 02. Serenity 03. Spine 04. Adoration 05. Senses 06. Empathy 07. Reality 08. Sanity 09. Identity 10. Hope 11. Memory 12. Everything "Fronted by female vocalist Cat, Mortal Love deliver a successful musical blend which a lot of labels refer to as goth metal these days. It isn’t really goth in my book, but never mind, the platter is by all means listenable and incorporates catchy elements of stuff you have heard before and probably liked. Most surprisingly, the opening track sets off with an a cappella piece that resembles something Bjork could easily have done. A daring outset, sadly it isn’t pursued further on the rest of the album – this would have enabled Mortal Love to effectively stand out from the The Gathering/Lacuna Coil clones of the world."
-- Thomas Nielsen, powermetal.dk
"The music on 'I Have Lost...' is a mixture of melodic and symphonic metal - thus Within Temptation influences are rather prominent on this album. In addition, Cat (the vocalist) has a voice slightly similar to that of Sharon den Adel's . It's quite safe to say that fans of Within Temptation's 'Enter' will definitely find this album tremendous. Occasionally there are male vocals, which represent rather successful counterpart to Cat's soft, sensitive voice. Nonetheless, Mortal Love's music also draws influences from other sources as well... for example, on the first song there are parts reminiscent of The Gathering. On Sanity Cat sings 'this is my theatre of tragedy', which makes me wonder if also ToT is one of their influences. (...) All in all, Mortal Love is definitely a welcome addition to the field of symphonic metal. 'I Have Lost...' is a surprisingly strong album..."
-- Mage, rockreviews.info, 6/10
½ 2006:
Forever Will Be Gone Tracklisting:01. I Make the Mistake 02. Of Keeping the Fire Down 03. While Everything Dies 04. My Shadow Self 05. In The End Decides 06. To Choke You Now 07. So I Betray the Mission 08. Still it Has Only Just Begun 09. As We Can Not be One 10. Forever Will be Gone "The album 'Forever Will Be Gone' is the last part in a trilogy that the Norwegian band Mortal Love begun with their debut 'All The Beauty…' in the year 2002. The general theme in this trilogy is supposedly love, which maybe isn’t that big of a surprise in the gothic metal context, and then of course embedded is the right amount of tragedy and melancholy. (...) It’s clearly visible that the band has put their effort on the atmosphere rather than on creating complex songs and it’s not until the last song, which is also the title song, Forever Will Be Gone that the guitar riffs become more distinctive, and especially towards the end the song become surprisingly heavy and aggressive. Besides that one, it’s more harmonic songs that float past the listener in a calm and quiet manner without drawing too much attention to them and therefore almost unnoticeably summon the melancholic atmosphere. This doesn’t mean that the songs are weak, since there are plenty of great songs on the album of which the great opener I Make The Mistake and the emotional While Everything Dies should be mentioned. 'Forever Will Be Gone' really succeeds in summoning a true melancholic mood and even though some of the songs are a bit too anonymous the album works really well as a whole."
-- Janne, metal-only.com
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