If you are a classic heavy metal fan that dislikes anything else that has not many guitars, stop reading now and read another review. If you are a music fan then VON BRANDEN may have something for you.
This band is the project of Solarian von Branden and Vestriz Von Mesopotamien (I wonder if they thought hard to find those nicknames). Those two decided to go on with this project in 2004. During the same year, their first EP Behind The Rain was out. In 2006 Arminius Von Theesfeld joined the band and they started recording songs. Unfortunately, the band members themselves don't want to talk about their other bands/projects. Their debut album Ignoranzkult was released in 2006.
As I said earlier, this band is not for those that don't want to listen anything else than old school heavy metal. Even the term 'gothic metal' is binding for VON BRANDEN. Yes. the forms are most of the times leaning to gothic, but here you can listen to more things than that. For my ears, they are playing chill-out music on gothic forms with a metal touch (as the vocals concern). In some parts they bring to mind EMPIRIUM and another German band, ANUBIZ. Here you will listen to violin, cello, saxophone, accordion, heavy guitar riffs. Ok, they are not the super band, but with nice ideas they are trying to get away from the cliches of gothic metal. Not an 'easy listening' album; if someone wants to discover VON BRANDEN he/she will have to listen to this album lots of times.
Ok, what do we have here... A debut release, not a masterpiece of course, but a nice album with lots of things to listen to. You can see it as an alternative to all those who seek something different when it comes to gothic (let's say) metal. But, the TORI AMOS cover is something that the listener won't miss.