TAT’s music is pretty much based on classical guitar playing and vocals and believe me, Antoine, who is TAT, can play guitar! He picks the strings sometimes in an awful tempo without without ever losing track. There are also a capella tracks with voice experiments and some others that reveal industrial influences. A great mix if you ask me. It’s not like any other dark folk, I don’t even know if this should be called dark folk, due to the classical guitar playing, but some parts remind me of Ulver’s acoustic album, Váli and such bands... Yet I am very not willing to call TAT’s compositions "neoclassical" since I can’t find any resemblance in any of the neoclassical acts I’ve heard. It’s unique, as far as I can tell.

Friends of Antoine, hailing from unknown bands (at least for me), contribute most of the vocals. They actually contribute so much so that the only track where Antoine is alone is the first one... They make a great blend of voices on this album; female, male, spoken, growlings, clean singing, murmurings, choirs and screams. Some English accent could have been improved though, but that doesn't bother me much... As for what they sing about I can only speak for three of the ten tracks where the crew sings in English (instead of French). Just as I expected, the lyrics follow the same dark pattern with stories of tragedy and evil creatures. When read, they feel more like literature than lyrics actually.

Quinta Essentia has a very dark, gothic feeling over it, it’s very skillfully performed in every way and is unique in its sound. If you have the guts, place this disc in your stereo system, close your eyes and let TAT & co lead you to where they dwell, through beautiful yet haunting landscapes. I can’t imagine how TAT can make any progress in future releases but I won’t be late to check it out.

I can recommend a glass of wine to this album.

CME