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Band: Vaselyne
Album title: The Fire Within
Release date: 4 October 2013
Label: Echozone/Turmoil Music
Tracklisting:
01. Earthbound
02. Not To Be Mine
03. Half-Cast
04. The Fire Within
05. August
06. World In My Eyes
07. Ships In The Wind
08. Fragile
09. Allright
10. Fall From Grace
11. Earthbound - Profane mix
"Come to me by water, come to me by night". With those exact words the Dutch duo Vaselyne invites us into their moribound and at the same time sweet musical world that they've prepared on their debut release. Actually Vaselyne is a collaboration between singer Yvette Winkler (Sea Of Souls) and well noted Frank Weyzig, who's one of the founding members of Clan Of Xynox and Born For Bliss. Frank is responsible for almost all the instruments on this release. And yes, the thing Vaselyne did is mindblowing musical soundscape, not an easy one to get through, but certainly a worth of your time sonic journey. Many of you noticed the exceptional musical creativeness of the two on their previously released EP Earthbound, but with this album the picture becomes more complete.
Drifting in the most obscure waters that spiritual dark wave music can offer, Vaselyne with ten tracks and one instrumental mix of the opening track offers well flowing and profound soul moving sounds. Most of the time everything is tender, acoustic guitars blend so well together with occasional heavier guitar riffs that deepens the already great atmosphere. The two managed to compose some unique song structures that slowly build on ambiance, not to mention how great are the cello insertions, played by guest musician Lucas Stam on "Earthbound" and "August", and of course, the tender sounds of flute, played by another guest, Rina Vervoort, on "Half-Cast" and "The Fire Within". As the implement to create everything more dynamic there's a use of wisely inserted electronics, unusual sounds here and there, and some almost futuristic synths that blend so well with the rest of instrumentation. Even Franks voice is heard on the epic "Not To Be Mine". Everything is so subtle and mysterius, sometimes some parts remind to Dead Can Dance, This Mortail Coil,... but on the best part of the album you could find even some references to Steven Wilsons projects, but much more darker, maybe even to Peter Murphy, not to mention shoegaze elements here and there. Just listen how great is a guitar work, let it be acoustic or electronic, plus the whole melancholic ambiance on "The Fire Within", it really sucks you in, and the very next one, slowly evolving "August" is the perfect soundtrack for rainy autumnal days with its almost doomy guitars and cello.
There are a lot of marvelous melodic lines, catchy memorable hooks and dark moments. Cover of Depeche Mode's "World In My Eyes" is another example that some covers might sound even better than the original compositions. Yvette's voice is tender, seductive, deep and emotional, but if you are not in the right mood for this kind of music it might become a bit monotone. The song I enjoyed the most is cathartic "Fragile", pure gold, so dark, hypnotic,... some spoken words make it even more emotional and subtle right before when the amazing melodic guitar riffs come to surface. You might notice even some declined percussions that gives a lot to the whole ambiance. I hope that you get the picture and let me finish with this words taken from the song "Fall From Grace" that unintentionally describe this albums experience very well: "A calling so profane, into a secret place, so tender is this warm embrace".
Review written by: T.V.
Rating: 8,5/10
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