Wounds Wide Open

Wounds Wide Open is the fifth album, combining chilly guitar, sunken rhythm and wistful singing. Released in October 2006. It keeps gothic metal's dark air while retaining an approachability as melodic rock. It deepens the direction they'd rebuilt on the previous record with a calmer hand. Rather than flash, it's the kind of album that holds you through the quality of its sustained atmosphere. Weight and delicacy appear in turn, and the whole record carries a quiet, night-like tension. It opens with the intro “Intro - Sorrow,” and through “Wicked Circle,” “Guilt Ridden State,” “Like Never Before,” “Under a Velvet Sky,” “Scar Diary,” “New Heaven,” “The Quiet Room” and “Liquid Lies,” the structure that closes the circle with “Sorrow Remains” is beautiful — the nod of placing “Sorrow” at both ends works well. The tour for this album ran to October 2007, after which the band entered a long hiatus. A record that values Nordic lyricism while shaping emotion directly.