Matricide: La Tulipe Noire

Matricide is a six member band from Athens, Greece, who formed back in 1997. The band includes: Hyde, on keyboards; Alix, on piano, organ, and synthesizers; Julie Massino, on vocals; Marios Mourmouras, on guitars; Gavin Scott, on bass; and Michael Osborn, on drums and percussion. Don't let the band name scare you. In this case it means we as humans are destroying our mother Earth.

The band has a discography of four other albums besides the latest album La Tulipe Noire, released in 2013. Nostimon Hemar was their last release back in 2006.

The story on La Tulipe Noire begins, "Outside, the wind was howling! It could be heard, even inside the spaceship! Mnemon, with much effort, glanced away from the panoramic window. The red, lifeless-like, alien landscape had him mesmerized! He turned around! Enitharmon, the one in charge of the archaeologists, stood in front of his desk, with an expression of embarrassment, on his face! Are you sure? He asked! Yes, captain, he said, it is confirmed! There's no shadow of a doubt, they did it to themselves!" An artefact has been found by the exploring team and it is the album full of the history of how the planet was destroyed from within. Warning issued. Will we head the message?

An interesting story unfolds documenting the destruction of the planet captured on this album. The opener, "A Letter from Patmos", is full of symphonic orchestrations and choirs making it an immediate favorite. The keyboard and drum work is intense and fills all open space in the soundscape.

The guitar work is excellent as Julie Massino's vocals take over the helm on "The Death Chamber". The music reminds me so much of Dream Theater, and early Dream Theater, which is not a bad thing at all. Massino has a voice which I would most compare to Holly Knight of Device from the late 1980s and early 1990s. The music on this album is excellent and supports the story's emotional twists and turns perfectly. There is not a bad song on the album.

I recommend this album and the story and warnings it provokes. I look forward to Matricide's next symphonic masterpiece.

Track Listing:

1. A Letter from Patmos (4:34)
2. The Death Chamber (6:18)
3. In God We Trust? (4:47)
4. Midas Touch (4:10)
5. Post Scriptum, (Pt.1) (1:55)
6. Sinking Sun (5:16)
7. Radio Days (4:39)
8. Nemesis (4:44)
9. Poseidon's Wrath (6:23)
10. Post Scriptum, (Pt.2) (1:41)
11. No Ark (4:37)
12. Funeral Pyre (5:48)
13. Epimythion (4:21)

Added: May 1st 2014
Reviewer: Mark Johnson
Score:
Related Link: http://www.latulipenoire.gr/
Hits: 2549
Language: english

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