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 The Third And The Mortal - Memoirs [VME - 2002]A couple of years ago there was a promising experimental band hailing from Norway called The Third And The Mortal. On the first release the music was a mix of dreamy doom/gothic-metal. Over the years the band developed their sound into something close to experimental post-rock. The last we heard from them was in 1997 when their masterpiece 'In This Room' was released, then it went quiet. Some time ago news spread that vocalist Ann-Mari Edvardsen (Now in Tactile Gemma) left the band, then it went quiet again. Nobody knew what happened to this promising act. But then last month news spread about a new album. After nearly five years of waiting The Third And The Mortal is back with 'Memoirs'. I didn't really know what to expect from this album. Five years is a long time and a lot can change. Since Ann-Mari left the band I was wondering who would pick up the microphone. There isn't really a new vocalist yet, but the band did record with 5 different vocalists this time, male and female. The album was recorded in several intervals over a period of 4 years. Like I said, there can change a lot in 5 years. As you can hear on 'Memoirs', the music is different from what the band did before. The only thing that remained is the dark and dreamy atmosphere. It's a mix of trip-hop, pop, rock and jazz. The songs are written very well, but it's not the experimental stuff we used to hear on past records.The first two tracks, 'Zeppoliner' and 'Good Evening Mr. Q' are quite similar to eachother. 'Zeppoliner' is a good opener and captures the atmosphere really well. It has this sixties James Bond horns in it, which is something I always like. Of course with a title as 'Good Evening Mr. Q' one immediatly thinks about Bond.Another standout track is 'The City' which reminds me of Massive Attack and newer Ulver. It captures the dark and gloomy atmosphere of a dark city metropolis very well. 'Reflections' is a nice rock track with distorted vocals. It sounds quite uplifting compared to the other material on 'Memoirs', though it still has this dark electronic edge to it. The song 'Thin Dark Line' is my personal favourite. The vocals are beautiful and the atmosphere reminds me the most of old Third And The Mortal with a modern trip-hop beat. We hear some modern jazz with the track 'Fools Like Us', which is an instrumental. The two most uninteresting tracks are 'Those Of My Kind' and 'Spider'. The male vocals on these tracks are awful, and personally I think they ruin both songs. So with only two drawbacks and seven quality tracks 'Memoirs' is a pretty good album. Don't expect a logical continuation of 'In This Room', that's a long time ago. The Third And The Mortal almost sound as a totally different band. The quality and dreamy atmosphere is still here and that's what you get with 'Memoirs'.  Niels van Rongen
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|  | | The Third And The Mortal - Memoirs | A couple of years ago there was a promising experimental band hailing from Norway called The Third And The Mortal. On the first release the music was a mix o...
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| | | Creepy Images Books - Killer Art | Of all the cult/exploitation genres, Giallo stands as one of the more visually & art-based- be it with the grand/ dramatic location, choreographed murder...
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