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It really takes an act of sheer genius to successfully pull off what Tristania are trying to do on this album. Melancholy in music is not something very easy to capture; especially if you are going for the really artistic approach. And Tristania, along with Moonspell are pretty much the only respectable gothic metal bands that have lasted so long and put out quite a few good albums. And this one may very well be their weakest one to date.

It appears that the departure of Morten Veland has hit this band quite hard and for the worse. Sirenia's latest output was better than this one, but not by a lot though. Maybe "Ashes" is too artistic and meaningful for imbeciles like me to understand or 'get'. But where I stand, a lot of this album is just droning and just leaves you hanging on something without actually delivering it. Many amazing riffs and passages find their way here, but equally abundant are just boring acoustic, ambient bits that really start getting on your nerves. I still hold Tristania highly as they've always crafted a niche of their own without caving in to trends and mallcore territory like pretty much all their peers do with this much time, but "Ashes" is a mixed blessing filled with both really good and ultra-boring ingredients. Nightwish fans obviously have a lot to look forward to in this album. If you have heard Tristania's music in the past, you should have a good understanding of what this sounds like. Take all their best parts and throw them in with pointless sound effects and "atmosphere" and that just about sums up "Ashes".

I look forward to their next endeavor, but this one won't see my CD player for a long, long time again.