I love this CD. It contains a mixture of various old Veni Domine aproaches with some more contemporary ideas. It's their most listenable, entertaining, (and Heavy!) cd yet IMO. Every single song has at least one section that has a heavy riff that one can easily get a handle on. For older Veni Domine that wasn't always the case, IMO. As much as I liked them, I did feel that despite a few easily digestible (catchy) songs on each album; they were on balance kind of an acquirred taste because of their complexity. This one doesn't take so much patience to appreciate. The songs...
1. October- Starts right offf with a massive rhythmic wall of sound. More "modern" sounding than their past efforts, many of which sounded almost like ancient, doomy, litergical masses (in a good way though). But I like this approach too, as I think this is a band that can tolerate some updating without losing anything IMO. 8/10
2. Scream- Another rhythmic, heavy song. Not as heavy as the first song. Some synths here and there. 7/10
3. The Bell of 1000 Years- Some people have accused me of being out of touch with what the term "Power Metal" means nowadays- but I gotta think this song qualifies. Starts with a monster catchy riff, which kicks back in after a slower section. The song finishes in a more subdued manner, with some keyboards adding atmosphere. If this isn't my favorite song by anybody in 2007, then the following track is. 9/10 (edit: the killer opening riff is actually only used once more in the song. Underused riffs are a pet peeve of mine, so I gotta dock the song a point for that. Still a great song 9/10)
4. The Rider on the White Horse- Just an excellent traditional metal song. Galloping catchy riff, catchy chorus. Great song.
10/10
5. Two Times- Again back to the more modern approach. Pensive verse, but heavy riff and catchy chorus. 7/10
6. Bless My Pain- Vintage doomy Veni Domine, although not as proggy as some of their classics. 7/10
7. Stay With Me- Busts out with an almost Stone Temple Pilots riff, which is too much out of character even for me. But it's heavy, if a little too simple. My least favorite on the disc, but still a good song which should say something. 6/10
8. You Leave Me Cold- From here on in the CD is all classic VD proggy doom. This song is atmospheric, with sinister proggy riffs that are used sparingly but effectively. 9/10
9. Tree of Life- An epic story about the garden of Eden. Long, complex song, full of twists and turns, tempo changes, light and heavy. Vintage Veni Domine.
10. Tounges-For Vd traditionalists waiting for the doomy, proggy, litergical high mass, here it is. Begins with a choir, and then pounds along like a ten ton doom turtle. I think a ponderous song like this really benifits from the contrast with some of the more up tempo songs on this CD. Some of the other VD albums had too many songs like this IMO. But to end on a low note, at about the 11 minuite mark this song starts to suffer from repeated false endings, so I docked it a point for that. The final five minuites of this 16 minuite song consists of the Lord's Prayer (or something) recited in most of the languages known to man (hence the "tounges". It's a tedious ending to a good song and a great album. 7/10
Veni Domine-Tounges CD 9/10
Subject: Veni Domine "Tounges" 
Fri Jan 04, 2008 2:55 am
