As you can see in my review of TBD's debut _Awaken_ (CoC #18), my expectations for their second album were very high. While _Mystica_ is a very good album, it's not such an outstandingly great follow-up to _Awaken_ as I had hoped for. The reason is simple: most of the album is excellent, but a couple other tracks aren't so remarkable. And, being a relatively short album (40 minutes), there's just not enough here for _Mystica_ to be as great as _Awaken_. Things start off brilliantly, from the opening track to the superb "As Rapture Fades", all the way to the fifth song, "Leaving Me Helpless". After this one, however, only the short "Enhanced By Your Touch" and "Fear of a Lonely World" stand out as top quality songs - not that the others aren't good, they're just not -that- good. TBD's sound has changed since _Awaken_, as the guitars and drums don't sound as strong as before and the keyboards aren't so much like Cradle of Filth anymore. (I liked the CoF-style keyboards better.) Fortunately, Darren White's voice is just as good as before. The overall feeling is that _Mystica_ is more accessible than _Awaken_, but, in this particular case, that doesn't make it any worse; in fact, despite these changes, the musical quality is still there. Those who liked _Awaken_ will surely enjoy this one as well. I did, but perhaps expecting something even better than _Awaken_ was too optimistic. Looking at _Mystica_ for what it's worth and not comparing it to anything else, this is a very high quality album that's just lacking in quantity.
