Ophelia by Behind Your Fear

Ophelia LP Frontcover der Band Behind your Fear

Michael Stein (drums), Scorpios (bass) and T. (guitar) came together around the former singer of the Flowing Tears, Stefanie Duchêne, to form the gothic rock/metal band Behind Your Fear. I was delighted to hear that Stefanie's beautiful voice would be appearing on vinyl again, but somehow ByF slipped out of my focus again. Not because I didn't like Ophelia, quite the opposite. For a "newcomer" band, it was just too quiet, which is a shame. There is plenty of dark ambient, gothic rock/metal, and standing out from the crowd is not easy. In any case, the band members know how to do it, and their professionalism and quality cannot be shaken. The main identifying feature, however, remains Stefanie's voice. Not too bright. Melodic. Expressive and clean. For me, perfect for gothic. A matter of taste, I know.

Ophelia LP

What does the debut have to offer? At just 20:23 minutes, it's very short for 7 songs, more like an EP or promo LP. It definitely whets your appetite and makes you want more. "Violence" begins with a piano, a quiet start that really gets you going from 01:50. And it ends again at 02:51. My first highlight is the longest song, "Wintersun", at 04:12, driving and melodic. "Deep Blue" begins spherically and turns into a pleasant song that is then dominated by electric guitar, drums and bass. My second highlight. What about "Phi"? Is it a gap filler? Pure promo? Does it connect the previous song with the next one? I thought that was progressive, but unfortunately it didn't happen. So we come to "From the North". Highlight number three. Maybe too shallow? Too melodic? Maybe, I like it. I can really immerse myself in the singing without being thrown out again. That speaks for the quality. Then there is singing and piano in the horribly short “Tine’s Walk”. The throw-out “Polaroid” is even shorter at 02:16. Stefanie’s voice in the foreground, that fits.

And that's it. Ophelia shows the direction of the band. Flowing Tears resonate, thanks to Stefanie's singing. Is there anything special? As I said, there are plenty of Gothic songs. It's this voice, there aren't many of them. This voice creates atmosphere and expression. Add to that good musicians and it sounds like it was made from one piece. I'm never thrown out. I'm not interested in artistic rough edges, they're OK, it's about inappropriate rough edges. And there aren't any. Heard in Vinyl Black

Stefanie Duchêne – Piano, Vocals
Michael Stein – Drums
Scorpios – Bass
T. – Guitar

Ophelia LP Frontcover der Band Behind your Fear

The photos are all from my LP. The rights to all motifs, logos, texts and fonts that can be seen in the photos are of course owned by the copyright holder.

Video from the official YouTube channel