Toal – Ritus Ex Silenti (Album – DarkTunes Music Group)
Genre/Influences: Dark-Pop, Wave-Pop.
Format: Digital.
Background/Info: German formation Toal released a debut-EP entitled “Timeless”-EP in 2019 and last year struck back with their debut full-length album. The work features ten songs plus seven remixes.
Content: Toal deals with a sound, which is not that easy to define. It however clearly sounds inspired by a dark approach in Electro-Pop. The songs have something evasive, sometimes moving into Cinematographic passages and even touching ground with a kind of ‘Cabaret-Noir’-style. The female vocals are sometimes reminding me of a mix between L’Âme Immortelle and Kirlian Camera while the production might appeal for lovers of Blutengel.
Remixes have been accomplished by [:SITD:], L’Âme Immortelle, Chrom, ES23, Mental Exile and HzweiG. There’s also one remix featuring SynthAttack.
+ + + : I like the mix between the different influences, but globally speaking Toal deals with a rather personal Dark-Electro-Pop approach. This band is not a new emulation of an idol, but tries to bring something different merging different influences with each other. The now sensual and then dreamy-like vocal parts create a delicious match with the music. The album is missing an ‘absolute’ hit, but features multiple cool songs instead. I also have to say a word about the impressive list of remixers. L’Âme Immortelle, Chrom and ES23 did a really great job.
– – – : I think this band has more potential than what came out at this work.
Conclusion: “Ritus Ex Silenti” is a very promising debut album resulting from a creative process.
Best songs: “Ritual”, “Unreal World”, “Trapped Heart” + “Trapped Heart – Remix by Tom Chrom”, “Unreal World – L’Âme Immortelle Remix”, “Unreal World – ES23 Remix”.
Rate: (7½).
Artist: www.facebook.com/toal.band
Label: www.darktunes.com / www.facebook.com/darkTunesMusic
About Toal
Toal is a German quartet from Braunschweig and Herford, formed in autumn 2017. Frontwoman Luzi Lacole entered the electronic music scene in 2017 as keyboardist, dancer and singer of SynthAttack, and is joined in Toal by Rob Gee, Oak and Tian. The band released the “Timeless” EP in 2019, followed by the “Trapped Heart” single in 2020 and the debut album “Ritus Ex Silenti” on darkTunes Music Group.
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