TEMUJIN: 1000 Tears

Produced by Temujin
Released: 2007

While originally released late last year, Temujin has announced that Renaissance Records will be issuing this album internationally in May, so what better time than now to put it through The Sound Cellar's wringer?

1000 Tears is the debut effort from the Melbourne duo of Kelly and Karl Lean and at a whopping 56 minutes there is certainly a lot of music here. Back in the 80s, Karl Lean was the founder of Nothing Sacred, a seminal band of Australia's thrash movement but Temujin could not be more different. 1000 Tears is very solidly -- and very generically -- Gothic metal with precisely all the aspects of that genre and almost nothing of anything else. Kelly's vocal style recalls those of Anneke van Giersbergen and Liv Kristine and musically the band evokes easy comparisons to Within Temptation and After Forever, but with less of the symphonic elements.

With "Find Me", Temujin immediately establishes their sound, with the gently sighing keyboards surging through the choruses and the crashing, slow-riffing guitars the foundation for Kelly's soprano vocals. It's easy to see why Temujin would stoke some interest with such an offering, but as 1000 Tears goes on it's a bit difficult to see how that could be maintained. For the best part of an hour, Temujin stick resolutely to their guns, barely wavering from the format set down in that first song. Karl spices things up a little now and then with some nice lead guitar work (his old Nothing Sacred buddies Sham and, er, Buddy help out here also), but otherwise there just isn't a great deal of variation on offer. This is somewhat of a shame, because when they do veer slightly, the results are impressive. Stripped of almost all keyboards, the heavier riffing and darker atmosphere of "Blue Jay" makes it a real stand out and "Throwing Stones" has Karl adding some depth to the sound with vocals of his own. This track is also significantly heavier, which helps to make it a highlight.

As it stands, 1000 Tears isn't a bad album, although the cover art is not a great representation of the package. Temujin puts everything in all the right boxes and has all the right elements to appeal to fans of their musical style. However, amongst a sea of similar acts it doesn't particularly stand out and breaks no new ground, giving the impression of playing things a little too safe while only briefly showing of what they are really capable.

1. Find Me
2. 1000 Tears
3. So Near
4. Let You Go
5. Spiral
6. Down
7. Blue Jay
8. Taken
9. Sheltered
10. Haunted
11. All of You
12. Throwing Stones
13. Heart and Soul

Rating: 52%