The Crest say that they're not sure what to call their music: it could be Gothic Metal, it could even be dark pop. No, it couldn't. Dark pop just makes me think of Avril Lavigne in a bad mood. This is Gothic Metal, and from Norway. Wow! How novel. I don't know what it is about that part of the world, but it does seem to contribute wonderfully to the metal scene. Must be something in the fjord water.

I was referred to this band by an online catalogue, which said it was in the same vein as The Gathering and Lacuna Coil [or Lacuna Gathering. Comments like that really infuriate some people]. But, it's not really. I suppose if you like Anneke or Cristina's efforts, the likelihood is you'll want to give this a try, though it's closer to LC than The

Gathering by now. Still, when I bought this I was a little tentative because I hadn't heard any of it. I was thankfully relieved after hearing the first minute of Fire Walk With Me: I got that feeling that I was on home territory.

There are two great things about this music. Firstly, the guitars have a wonderful full on and deep feel to them. I hate metal where the guitars have got too much treble on them and it's all a little tinny and baseless. Not the case here - for their first album, The Crest certainly have a confident sound to what they're producing. Secondly, Nell has a wonderful voice, maybe not as distinctive as a couple of females I could name [and I daren't], but it's still good. And there's something about hearing her plead "seduce me" about twenty times over on Pills For Broken Dreams which is just great.

Other parts of this worth a mention are Butterflies & Dragons, which has one of those basstones at the beginning, which is just at the right resonance to jeopardize the foundations of your house. At times it feels stronger than gamma radiation. In spite of that, this song is remarkable because it has a wonderfully unusual chord sequence, which takes one or two listens to get used to. Your mind expects the music to go a certain way, which it refuses to do, and it works well. This also follows in part for Thorn, Frozen Garden and Childhood's End. It's all good, really.

Fortunately, The Crest are not in danger of becoming part of the troupe of bands such as Nightwish and Lacuna that seem to dominate the Gothic Metal scene. There's something different about them, though I can't really put my finger on what it is. Maybe there's something a little more mature in the sound, something a little more personal, and each song has it's own character rather than just being different from the others. In spite of this, though it is different, it's not disparate, and it's this foot in the door that will hopefully carve The Crest a respectable niche within Gothic Metal.