Urban Tales : Loneliness Still Is the Friend

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by Justin Gaines
Staff Writer

Loneliness Still Is the Friend is the second full-length album from Urban Tales. Not to be confused with the similarly named Finnish melodic rock band Urban Tale, Urban Tales is a Portuguese gothic metal band. It’s taking the easiest route to compare Urban Tales to Portugal’s best known gothic metal export Moonspell, but in this case it’s a perfectly appropriate comparison since vocalist Marcos Cesar has an incredibly expressive, very deep voice that frequently brings to mind Fernando Ribeiro. Urban Tales isn’t quite so sinister or doomy as Moonspell though, taking a more melodic, more accessible – but still sufficiently bleak – approach. There are also some similarities to Australian band Voyager, and Type O Negative and Paradise Lost appear to have influenced the band.

Like all good gothic metal albums, Loneliness Still Is the Friend succeeds in conveying a sense of melancholy that generally makes you want to kill yourself and/or go dancing with goth chicks. There’s a narrow line between the poppy gothic metal that HIM and Dommin made popular and the more crushing, doom-laden gothic metal, and Urban Tales walks that line well. You catch that right off the bat, when the chorus of “Silent Cries” kicks in and you go from somber verse to head-banging chorus. There’s a great balance between more upbeat and melodic songs like “Other Side” and “Celebrate Nothing” and the subdued “Stand Alone” and somber “Crying.” The musicianship is tight and songs are all well written, though you do get the sense that the band isn’t entirely comfortable with English lyrics.

They aren’t exactly redefining the genre, but Loneliness Still Is the Friend is a perfectly solid gothic metal album that should appeal to most fans of this kind of music. Urban Tales does this kind of music quite well, and with time could be one of the more interesting bands the gothic metal genre has to offer.

Genre: Gothic Metal

Band:
Marcos Cesar (v)
Joao Maia (g)
Joao Coroa (g)
Tiago Borges (b)
Joao Coelho (d)
Jon Van Dave (k)

Track Listing:
1. Silent Cries
2. Other Side
3. Stand Alone
4. Fly Away
5. Crying
6. Celebrate Nothing
7. Another Day
8. Cold
9. Goodbye/Despair (Part I)
10. Celebrate Nothing (edit)

Label: Compact

Website: www.urbantalesmusic.com

Hardrock Haven rating: 7/10