The Burning Season
[Metropolis Records]

Admittedly, Faith & the Muse are one of my favorite non-metal bands. When I first heard them, I was absolutely swept away with their specific blend of dark gothic rock and traditional Celtic music. So when I picked up their latest disc, “The Burning Season,” I was a little excited to see what these guys are still capable of doing.

Overall, the album isn’t all that bad; it’s pretty damn good, actually. The thing is, everything they’ve done before is much better. The blend of Celtic songs and goth-stylings just isn’t as prevalent on “The Burning Season” as it was on “Annwyn, Beneath the Waves.” Instead, it is packed with much slower tempos, and given a dance-club beat on about half of the songs. By no means are they bad songs or have been poorly executed; in fact, it’s the exact opposite. They’ve somehow managed to take their original dark, moody sound, and put dance-beats behind it. I find it to be quite breathtaking, actually, especially on songs like “Whispered in Your Ear,” and the title song, “The Burning Season.”

Because this album has a much different style, mood, tone, and atmosphere than their previous releases, it was very hard to rate. On one hand, it is filled with great music and is an overall dark and depressing album; on the other, it’s probably their worst release yet...but it isn’t bad. Essentially, I would only recommend “The Burning Season” to longtime fans of Faith & the Muse. New listeners, definitely go for their earlier releases like “Annwyn, Beneath the Waves,” and “Elyria,” for those are the albums that defined their unique sound.