Sometimes, musical projects are created as a new form of musical expression from experienced musicians. Some can be as bad as a spider sting in your genital parts, but some can be really great, giving a blow of fresh wind inside some music styles. In Metal, this fact is true as well as in any other genre that you can think of. Let me tell you, my dear nephews and nieces: "Across Dark Waters", the new album the Swedish duo from APATHY NOIR, is really amazing in some points.

Their musical work is based on the mix of aspects coming from Doom Death Metal and Progressive Metal influences. It's darkened and really sinister in some moments, using sad and introspective melodies and clean vocals contrasting with aggressive nasty grunts. Of course their work is not something really new at all, but the way they play their songs and the musical ideas are different from what we are used to hear from this specifically Metal style. Produced, engineered, mixed and mastered by Viktor Jonas (the band's vocalist), the whole sound quality is in a good level, keeping the aggressiveness of their work, but with a sense of clarity. So you'll understand what they are playing with no problems, but it's aggressive and sinister enough to make you parents jump from the bed to hide under it.

"Across Dark Waters" is a conceptual album, telling the story of a fishing village chief that is seduced by sirens and go out for the sea. They use very long songs to express their musicality, and we can say that the slow and somber "Beyond the Sea" with its charming somber guitar riffs and some introspective clean moments (where the clean vocals are excellent, reminding something done before by bands as BORKNAGAR and VINTERSORG), the excellent work of guitars and vocals that is presented on "Lure of the Sirens" and "The Village" (on both songs, the melodies are contrasting with aggressive guttural voices), the perfect balance between some epic melodies and harsh aggressive tunes of bass guitar on "Constance Willow II", and the deep and depressive atmosphere created by guitars and keyboards on "A Gruesome Journey" can be said as their best moments. "Across Dark Waters" is really a very good album, and the more you hear it, the more secrets will be unfolded and the more you'll like it.