DOTMA is a Gothic Metal band from Finland, a land which is known for metal bands having female vocalists. Jonanna Lesonen is a good vocalist, but she isn't great. The music is a little too weak for my tastes. Her high pitched vocals hurt the ears. It's hard to understand what she is saying once she goes into full soprano mode. Be that as it may, she is still more understandable than most female sopranos that sing in English whose native language is something other than said language. The music is heavy on keyboards and slow paced on drums. Another annoying fact is that so much of the album sounds exactly the same. I have listened to it repeatedly and still don't know which song is which because it all blends together. The male vocalist is just plain bad, but he is only on a couple of songs unlike Jonanna is.  Their bio sheet calls this a "spectacular debut release". I know it's their job to hype their bands, but this just flat out isn't so.

As far as the playing goes, there is nothing wrong with it at all. Everyone is good to great on their instruments, but that doesn't help when the material is so weak. It reminds me of a problem that many progressive metal bands have (I won't name names) they can play extremely well, but cannot for the life of themselves write a decent song. As each song plods along I begin to lose interest but I must continue in able to give a complete review. It's bad enough that the music is repetitive, and it's even worse when it's just plain tepid and lackadaisical. Adding acoustic elements on top of slowly played music interspersed with the vocals being almost whispered as is the case in the song; "Kingdom of the Sky" and you have a recipe for sleep inducement. Seriously, this song might just put you to sleep, that is, unless the crazy violin sounding blast that comes out of nowhere doesn't shock you back to wakefulness. This song is all over the place. However, it is a well played mess. That's exactly what it is. It is also over eleven minutes long! It is yet another song I will never listen to again for the rest of my life.

There are tons of good gothic metal bands out there that deserve your money; DOTMA is not one of them. Of course not every band can be as good as NIGHTWISH, but when you try to imitate them as DOTMA does, you had better bring the goods, and DOTMA simply fails to do so. I cannot recommend this album with a clear conscience. There are plenty parts where the music is atmospheric and even beautiful, but those moments are few and far between and simply destroyed by a lack of substance throughout the entire record, and this happens far more often than not. I think it's safe to say I'll pass on this one. Before purchasing this CD, I would highly recommend that you go to their Myspace page first.