Aardschok Magazine (December 2004 issue) [NL]
Anita Boel

BirkhoffBlast.nl [NL]
Jelmer Birkhoff

Toen mei 2002 Sohaitan uit elkaar viel rees er vrijwel onmiddellijk een nieuwe formatie uit de as van deze brutal death band. Deze band besloot voor een andere muzikale koers en 25 februari jongst leden brachten ze onder de naam In Age And Sadness haar eerste demo “Tragedy of the Commons" uit.
Vanaf de eerste seconden is het al duidelijk wat een enorme groei deze band afgelopen periode heeft doorgemaakt. Ze zijn de eerder genoemde nieuwe weg ingeslagen: doom / death metal met flink wat progressieve invloeden en de band is in zowel het spel als de composities echt enorm vooruit gegaan. In veel nummers stuitten we op contrasten en anti- climaxen die ervoor zorgen dat je hoofd goed bij de muziek blijft. Een goed voorbeeld hiervan is de opener “Nocturnal Whisperings”. In vergelijking met Sohaitan is het materiaal vele malen melodieuzer. Door middel van keyboard partijen zoekt de band het hier en daar ook nog wat in de experimentele hoek. Het meest opvallende aan deze cd s waarschijnlijk “Silhoutte”. Dit is een ruim twee minuten durende akoestische break die er zeer goed ingaat. Dan heb ik ook nog wat commentaar op de cd. Zo vind ik de zang, zowel de cleane als de grunt het minste aspect van de plaat. Het klink in mijn oren nogal eens monotoon.
Al met al is dit voor een eerste demo absolute klasse voor een band. Voor vier euro kun je de vier nummers is je cd-speler stoppen. De 25 minuten die dan volgen zitten dan wel goed. Je kunt de cd bestellen via de website van de band.


Doom-Metal.com
Aldo Quispel

This young new band from The Netherlands recently surprised me with their first demo. As I knew they play Death/Doom and are influenced by My Dying Bride, I must admit I feared it was yet another uninspiring band. This style of Doom has after all in recent years been plagued by countless of un-imaginative bands. Luckily In Age and Sadness was able to surprise me with a solid slab of Death/Doom of good quality!
The band doesn't wander off the often-threaded path; so don't expect any musical innovation that will shock the entire doom world. Instead expect a solid and highly enjoyable piece of Death/Doom, perhaps filled with clichés, but solid of structure and with good musicianship.
On the opener 'Nocturnal Whisperings' the band already shows they aren't afraid to step up the pace sometimes. The music often alters between faster more death-metal sections and slow mournful Doom. While grunted and clean vocals also alternate the focus lies on the grunts. Which I think is a good decision. Their vocalist doesn't have a bad clean voice, but also isn't exactly the best vocalist in the world. The choice to go with grunt most of the time is in my opinion a good one.
The weeping guitars, melodic keyboard lines and rolling drums complete the picture and make sure your interest is kept until the end of this short 24 minute demo. I picked up on several influences throughout the demo and while I am sure you can play the "spot the bands that influenced them" game quite easily, it doesn't really bother me. The level of song writing and especially musicianship is high enough to just make you focus on the music and enjoy it.
All in all I really liked this demo. Like I said it's not world shocking in originality, so if you’re looking for something special you might be disappointed. However if you’re simply looking for a good old dose of Death/Doom, then it might be worth checking these guys out. The quality of this release is certainly higher then the hordes of MDB clone bands out there flooding the genre to a level it's become stale and started to reek. In Age and Sadness make a small, but valiant, attempt to revitalise the death/doom style and I comment them for that!


Doomed Soul [NL]
Ben de Graaff

This band called In Age Sadness release there demo cd Tragedy Of The Commons in 2004. In Age And Sadness is a band from The Netherlands. This demo cd contains 4 songs of mid tempo Doom/Death Metal. Well what should i say about this demo cd I like the songs very much. In the songs you can hear slow to mid tempo guitars, drums. The vocals are good you can hear growls and also sometimes clean vocals. The last song on this cd number 4 called Vagrant Thoughts is a strange song on this cd its not really doom but the other 3 songs are good doom. This band is good and I think that this band will bring more good Doom/Death Metal.

Rating: 78/100


LordsofMetal.nl [NL]
Judge M.

Some time ago I called Eria d'Or a band who managed to combine their doom metal influences with Opethian guitar playing. Now only about half a year later the lads get accompanied from their own country. In Age And Sadness exists for not much longer than a year but with their debut demo "Tragedy Of The Commons" the band obviously makes clear who have inspired them: Mikael Akerfeld & Co but definitely the old doom/death generation. Think of a My Dying Bride on "Turn Loose The Swans" or maybe even Anathema somewhere among "Pentecost III".
The acoustic guitar parts has been taken care of perfectly (the instrumental "Silhouette" is the best example of this) and in my opinion forms the strongest point of this demo. The separate riffs are both decent as well as interesting and the songs vary quite well. The vocals nicely change in between deep and heavy grunts to clean vocals and the addition of some keyboards (which fortunately have no dominant presence at all) make it a well-balanced total. As a first demo the four tracks, who together count about half an hour, on "Tragedy Of The Commons" make a decent first impression. Nevertheless I have to point out I have some critical remarks on both the sound (too sharp) as well as the playing of the lead guitarist. For instance the long notes in the intro of opening track "Nocturnal Whisperings" are being ended to abruptly where I think they would have sounded much better if they were played a little longer, maybe even a little in David Gilmour style. Besides that I think the drummer should vary the pattern of his strokes some more and the changes in between the different themes can be more fluent in my point of view.

Judge M.'s verdict: 80/100


MetalStorm.ee [EST]
Malcolm

Young promising Death/Doom Metal in the veins of My Dying Bride and Opeth. I think that’s a good way to describe In Age And Sadness, because they are really promising, and the music has many similarities with those to bands without going so far so it would be called copying.
This quartet hails from Holland, and as mention is inspired by larger act, but there is a few things that makes them different from MDB and Opeth, their music are a lot more atmospheric, and all the songs are generally mid paced.
“Tragedy of Commons” is their first release (second if we should count the demo from 2003, under the name Sohaitan).
It’s containing 4 tracks and has a playtime over 20 minutes (the first song is the guilty one for that, it clocks in on 10:37).
It starts with “Nocturnal Whisperings” where the music floating in a land best described as, “atmospheric My Dying Bride with grunts”, beautiful acoustic guitars mixed with a “talking” electric guitars. It’s a very beautiful tale and 10 minutes has never felt shorter.
Second up is “Abstracted” that starts pretty much were the first song left us, but one major difference is that you’ll get both clear and grunts vocals here. And the atmospheric feeling is not as present here, but the song is still very strong.
The third one “Silhoutte” is a short instrumental track, that’s really lives up to the word “atmospheric”, winds are blowing and just an acoustic guitar is giving us music, brilliant.
The last track “Vagrant Thoughts” starts with some very good riffs, dark and melancholic riffs, with grunts filling in.
A good ender but it can’t compete with the first two tracks that I hold as my favourites.
The production is quite good for being a demo; it doesn’t ruin the listening experience in any way.
So if you’re into Doom, Death/Doom, you should click on the link here below and try a track, if you like it, contact the band and order a Demo, because this band got a bright future ahead if the continues to write such good music. Check Out: The two tracks on the website.

Rating: 8.5 / 10


Obskure.com [FR]
Emanuël

En dépit d’une production certes claire mais tout de même insuffisante, les intentions du quatre titres "Tragedy of the commons" (second enregistrement du groupe après le "Shreds of darkness" de 2003) sont claires : In Age And Sadness y affirme un style ouvert qui fait les mouvements rythmiques circuler en aléas autour d’un giratoire cloué au Doom funéraire. Sombre et lancinant, cet E.P. autoproduit commence par son morceau le plus complexe, "Nocturnal whisperings", lequel démontre l’ouverture d’esprit stylistique du combo. Des rythmiques sinusoïdales font s’accomplir le potentiel des guitares : typées My Dying Bride sur les leads, elles accentuent un style plus Death lorsque le tempo s’emballe. Si tout n’est pas joué avec une précision extrême (on n’a pas quinze jours pour chaque prise, dans un cas comme celui de IAAS), l’ensemble révèle l’envie peu commune de développer un son à la fois brut et envoûtant (nappes de claviers minimalistes, religieuses), et d’en découdre avec l’uniformité des textures (passages acoustiques rappelant Opeth, la virtuosité un poil en dessous tout de même), ou avec la linéarité vocale propre au Doom "roots" : ici, gorges claires ou gutturales, peu importe car une poésie noire s’ébauche au fil de chaque note, que celle-ci s’enfouisse dans la stridence des saturations ou qu’émane d’elle une relative clarté (la transition acoustique "Silhoutte").
Prometteur en tout cas, et dans l’attente qu’un jour, enfin, In Age And Sadness ait les moyens matériels de ses ambitions.
Celles-ci sont loin d’être anecdotiques.

Rating: 60%


Metal-March.com [PT]
Crepusculo

What a nice surprise reached my hands all the way from The Netherlands. In Age of Sadness is the name, and they are a young Doom/Death Metal band formed in 2002.
Hearing their debut demo ("Tragedy of the Commons"), it's inevitable to notice the many resemblances to some of the great names like My Dying Bride, and specialy Opeth.
There are only 4 tracks here, but with a total that almost reaches 25 minutes, so it's more than enough to give you an idead of the qualities of the Dutch.
The demo starts with a great song entitled "Nocturnal Whisperings". There's this keyboard intro that creates a melodic environment, and then some guitars and drums start. It was actually this small part that remind me of Opeth so much.
The instruments are very well played, and they fit the music great. The guitars can quickly go from soft to heavy, while the vocals change between clean and harsh, and they are actually the only possible thing that I could mention about this band that's not all that good, specially the growls/harsh vocals.
Anyway, this is just the band's first release, they have plenty of time to work out their flaws, and improve their sound.
As for the best track of this album, I don't think I can actually name one that I don't like, for whatever reason it may be. Either way, "Nocturnal Whisperings" is probably where they show all their qualities, and if I had to name one, it would be this one.
Looking back at "Tragedy of the Commons" I can't help but wondering how far these guys can go if they improve a little more and invest in their career as musicians, maybe recording their next release with a little better sound quality as well (not that it's not good here).
Fans of Doom/Death Metal (specialy Opeth) should most definitely check this band out, I have a very good feeling that the future will smile upon these youngsters from The Netherlands, but only time will tell...

Rating: 8.5 / 10


Metal-Only.com [SWE]
Janne

The Dutch band IN AGE AND SADNESS was formed a couple of years ago under the name SOHAITAN and they released one demo before it was time for a name change as well as changes in the line up. The new name they chose was IN AGE AND SADNESS and “Tragedy Of The Commons” is the first demo with this moniker.
MY DYING BRIDE and OPETH seems to have been two major sources of inspiration for IN AGE AND SADNESS, since their music can most easily be described as a mixture of these two giants. As many of you surely have guessed, this is death/doom metal and unfortunately also a genre full of mediocre clones. The band has barely managed to avoid getting trapped in that category, though sometimes they balance freighting close to the edge. The song material is however strong enough to save the demo and the band has put in enough variation in the music to keep up the listeners’ interest throughout the record. The vocals are the genre typical dark growls, but the vocalist does also make a few tries on singing with clean voice, which doesn’t really sound as good as the growls. Yet, I can’t come up with any specific complains and the same goes for the rest of the musicians in the band. They do a good job with their respective instrument and are in whole convincing.
Especially the opening track “Nocturnal Whisperings” shows that the band has the talent and capacity two write good songs.
The production is the demos weakness, which is way to weak and powerless. The sound is except from that really good, but the instruments and vocals sounds to weak and that give a somewhat hollow feeling to the demo.
“Tragedy Of The Commons” is a good demo, yet it stands steady in the mediocre group. It’s not bad in any way, but the sound needs some polishing and development before IN AGE AND SADNESS can make they way towards the top and become more visible amongst the numerous other bands. Good luck in the future guys!


QuintEssence.sh [NL]
Pim Blankenstein

After a couple of badly recorded mp3’s this new Dutch doom/death act comes up with their official first demo. This 4 track disc contains some pretty decent doom/death with a clear influence of both My Dying Bride and Opeth. Especially the latter seems to be of big influence on these guys from Middelharnis, a city near Rotterdam. The use of both clean and grunted vocals and soft and heavy guitar parts directly point at Opeth. The intro and outro of the last song “Vagrant Thoughts” remind me a lot of Metallica as well. It’s all quite okay musically but still it has a lot of room for improvement. Nevertheless these guys show with this recording that they are on the right direction with their music. When they invest some more money in a decent recording the next time it’ll be a lot better. Right now the production just lacks balls. This has everything to do with their budget of course and it’s not all that bad but in my opinion it can be all so much more powerful with a decent production. All in all I’d say Holland has got a new band around within the doom/death genre and I think we’ll hear more of these guys over the next couple of years.


PulltheChain.be [BE]
Georges

Not too much information with this demo coming from The Netherlands… and even if the band’s website address is printed on the backside of the cover, I feel a little bit too lazy to visit their domain to find any kind of interesting information. It doesn’t take you too long to understand the musical concept beyond «Tragedy Of The Commons». It’s a kind of mature and complex interpretation of the doom metal genre. The band is on a par with acts such as My Dying Bride or Opeth (for instance), offering some four long songs of depressed slow doom metal with a strong (and quite natural) inclination towards death metal (mainly referring to the inclusion of very nice accelerated passages). The demo opens with the ten minutes long «Nocturnal Whisperings» which is the perfect summary of In Age And Sadness musical world. Dark and sad in an aggressive kind of way. Also to be mentioned is the deep-throated vocal work that perfectly compliments the band’s musical direction. A very good surprise and a nice demo.


Rawk'nRoll.net [BUL]
...

Of tazi is new gr.ypa me of iznaneda pleasantly tyakhnoto p"rvo demo. Te sviryat placed the thoughts of met"l and imat of influence it is basic from muzikata on My Dying Bride and Opeth. Accurately tozi is derivative stil on the thoughts of met"la of ima of trouble you poslednite godini, zaradi mn.og.oto appeared se gr.ypi, lisheni from vsyakakvo v"obr"zheniye. But it is determined by In age and Sadness not SA from tezi of posredstveni of Bundy, but SA is united istisnki and is solid it is placed thoughts on the field. Gr.ypata se of prid"rzha of k"m you standartite for tozi the form of muzika, taka che not ochakvayte nyakakvi of the virgin soil of muzikalni of v"vedeniya, koito yes vi iznenadat. Instead of tova ochakvayte yes you chuyete united tekhnichen and it is pleasant it is placed thoughts, mozhe bi of p"len from klisheta, but s"s of stabilna structure is kind muzikalno izp"lneniye. In p"rvata of songs from albuma Nocturnal Whisperings of muzikata of varira from b"rz is placed met"l to baven, is sad pogrebalen of thoughts. Grukhteneto you clean vokali se reduvat, but dominantni SA you p"rvite. You spokoynite kitari, you melodichnite klaviri and moshchnite barabani SA garantsiya, che cabbage soup zad"rzhat of the interest vi of prez you vsichkite 24 to minuti from albuma. Raznoobraziyeto in it e to the field, taka che you pochitatelite on Cannibal Corpse and Scepcism bikha measured neshcho into muzikata on In age and Sadness, koyeto of udovletvoryava you vkusovete im. In age and Sadness they guide daring it is overdrunk yes tyuey s"zhivyat istinskiya it is placed the thoughts of met"l and tozi of tekhen it is overdrunk by e of dostoyen for the respect!!!
Napomnya to: Nortt and Pandemonium

Rating: 3 / 5

Note: This review has been translated, please view the original review here.


RockEzine.nl [NL]
Roy

In Age And Sadness began their career under the moniker of Sohaitan, in the winter of 2002. Not entirely satisfied with the band name and after the replacement of several members, drummer Niels proposed to change the name. Their music also changed from old school death metal to doom/death metal.
When you say doom/death metal the first band that pops into your mind would be My Dying Bride, followed by Opeth (at least for the death part) and indeed there are a lot of similarities. For instance the occasional acoustic guitar parts are Opeth-ish as well as the clean vocals. The band luckily is honest enough to name those two bands as their greatest influences and I have to say that In Age And Sadness’ case it is most certainly not a cheap rip off.
All four tracks on this first demo are interesting to listen to, they have just the right atmosphere that makes you want to listen to them and the replay button was pushed repeatedly when writing this review.
Of course there are always things that can be improved: I’m not too fond of the clean vocals and the drum sound isn’t that good either but the positive things clearly dominate.
As mentioned before, the atmosphere is really fitting, the grunt of singer/bass player Pepijn is as low as it should be and the intro to the fourth track “Vagrant Thoughts” is great. Overall the pace of the songs is really slow (as should be expected with this kind of music) but the occasional tempo change keeps things interesting.
Last thing to say is that I owe the band an apology. I’ve received the CD months ago but due to several factors the review just didn’t get written. I’ve listened to it regularly though and I certainly see a future for this young band on a label like Firebox.

Rating: 7.5 / 10


ShadowShire.de [DE]
Lake

Aus den Niederlanden kommt die folgende Band, die sicher noch eines Tages ganz groß herauskommen wird. In Age and Sadness, so der Bandname, zelebriert einen außergewöhnlichen Stil, der ein wenig an My Dying Bride erinnert. Die aktuelle Demo "Tragedy of the Commons" kommt mit 4 Tracks voller Doom & Death Metal aus.
Der erste Song "Nocturnal Whisperings" erinnert doch mit seinen schleppenden Gitarren und atmosphärischen Keyboards sehr an die oben angesprochene Band. Dazu gibt es eine sehr tiefe Growlstimme zu hören, dass einen schon ganz mulmig wird, wie tief der Mann heruntersingen kann. Etwas melancholischer zeigt sich "Abstracted", das mit ausgezeichnetem akustischem Gitarrenspiel sehr dynamisch klingt. Die eingeschobenen härteren Passagen geben dem Ganzen einen sehr doomlastigen Touch. Das Instrumental "Silhouette" leistet einem beim Träumen Gesellschaft, während "Vagrant Thoughts" mit seinen rifflastigen Gitarren vom härteren Licht erstrahlt, Man sieht, dass die Band sehr viele Facetten in ihrem Stil einbindet.
Freunde von schleppendem Doom Metal Marke My Dying Bride sollten sich die Band schon einmal vormerken. Der Sound klingt nicht abgekupfert, sondern kann mit recht großer Dynamik selbst überzeugen.

Rating: 8 / 10


Vampire-Magazine.com [NL]
Felix

In Age And Sadness started some years back under a different name, when things started to roll the band already changed their name and renewed their line-up. In this solid form the band put out this first demo and started to gig around (with Desire and The Provenance amongst others). They said they play doom/death with My Dying Bride and Opeth influences…
To start of I'd like to say that it is not just your regular doom/death. Though the influences of the above-mentioned bands are audible and the band knows how to keep their music varied enough to keep the listener interested. With many little steps on other musical grounds (like heavy metal for instance) In Age And Sadness is able to vary their doom metal without losing the real essence of their beloved style. Musically they know how to handle their instruments, the weeping guitars and keyboards give the atmosphere the feeling that is needed. The acoustic guitars remind me a bit of Anathema, but are played very well and give it again a very nice alternation on the rest of the music. Vocalist Pepijn has a good voice, deep guttural as it should be. Though, his clean voice isn't always the thing that could've been. Another thing I'd like to add to my "complaints" is that the guitars would sound a little better when they're tuned down a little more.
What is left to say? I don't think there is much to say and judge for yourself by listening the MP3 on their website or on our frontpage. Or get this 4-track demo (clocking around 24-minutes) directly from the band, using the contact address posted below, for just €4,-.

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