2002

I first heard TTV on their Undone EP, which has some fine tracks on it, and it's a shame all of those tracks aren't here - Numb, for instance. Still, The Damage is no bad album. In fact, most of the tracks are brilliant, especially The Ledge, Beautiful and Butterflies, though I wouldn't really go so far as to call it metal. It's more kind of Gothic hard rock, but it's still great stuff. The Ledge is the first track and sets the tone perfectly for the rest of the album - having heard it you know you're onto something good and the rest of The Damage is certainly of the same quality.

The problem, my dear fellow pedants, is that though it's good, it's all a little bit similar. Not only that, but there's something about Heather Thompson's voice that just doesn't do it for me. Sure she can sing, and she can throw the notes out perfectly like anybody's business, but I suppose that's part of the problem - she screams her little lungs out and

it's almost a little too much for the songs, which seem to be buckling under the weight and strength of her voice. I mean, for a few bars on the album we're nearly veering into Arch Enemy territory.

Nevertheless, this is not to say the song-writing itself isn't good, and there's not a duff track on the album. What Heather's voice certainly does carry is conviction - I mean, when she screams, "you don't live in this awful place, you don't feel the darkness like I do", you really want to pull her out of it. It's just that certain parts of this take a certain resilience to get through. It seems she's taking you on a journey and daring you to go the distance, but only a particular type of listener will be able to do that. If you think you're that listener, and if you like your Gothic rock to be so sharp it cuts you, then knock yourself out.