Just recently singer Anneke van Giersbergen returned to her metal roots with
Fire. In anticipation of the band's second album, her solo album The Darkest Skies Are The Brightest was released, containing the acoustic songs that came to her mind during a marital crisis. During relationship struggles with her husband, Van Giersbergen retreated with her guitar and worked on this collection of songs
… about pain, uncertainties and the question what their relationship is still worth. As a listener this inevitably gives an intimate look into her emotional life, where she sounds sweet and cuddly at times with her beautiful clear voice, but also shows a dark confessional side. Fortunately it never becomes a vale of tears, with melodic influences from folk and accompaniment of solid, sometimes almost tribal percussion, guitar, strings and baroque polyphonic choirs. It also ends well because Van Giersbergen and her husband found each other again, with this beautiful album as a cherished scar that only gives more depth and beauty to their relationship. And that explains the title. (MR)more
