In Tenebris

Outback Lodge
Saturday, January 6
The opening acts were Andsvara, a side project of local metal chanteuse Kim Dylla (see her with This Means You), and the Opposite Sex, a D.C. band that wowed everyone by using a baritone sax in lieu of a guitar for their first song. Both bands delivered solid performances and managed to lure patrons from their spots at the bar.

But the true darling of the night was In Tenebris, hands down. Taking its name from the Latin for “in darkness,” the band showcased the soaring, operatic voice of Christina Fleming—her years of classical training evident in the way she effortlessly glided from note to note in impossibly high ranges. Think Tarja Turunen with aspects of Sara Brightman and you wouldn't be far off.

Fleming and guitarist Jdavyd Williams form the group’s core, with both sharing songwriting responsibilities. Whatever they’re doing, it works.
Pounding drums, up-and-down bass lines and heavy guitar riffs in songs like “Chrysalis” suggest In Tenebris legitimate hard-rock know-how. Dance-friendly, electronica-influenced pieces like “Haunted” show that the group is comfortable in its own skin and able to work outside of any rigidly defined genre. This band is going places.
- DAVID T. ROISEN

Some bands have a look, others a sound, and still there are those that just have "it". What is "it"? If everybody had it, "it" would lose its' significance. In Tenebris has "it".
The look? Well... ... Christina makes a perfect "etheral" looking singer... David... David makes a perfect looking 80's/grunge/goth type of guy... or something...
The sound? The sound has gotten tighter every time I have seen them. From the first nervous notes when they took the stage for the first time, until this show, the growth is blatant. They play a sort of power etheral thing... ??? One second will be a ballad, and the next they are crashing through a rocked out cover of Vehemence Realized's "Old". Not the sound of a normal "underground" band.
"It"? The turnout tonight was large. When In Tenebris played, it was a tight fit on the floor and a real pain in the ass to get from one side of the stage to the other. This means that PEOPLE ARE NOTICING something. I say they are noticing "it". Of course there was the token drunk frat boy up front for the whole show ogling... (I suspect the same guy who shoved a roll of TP into the toilet, but we won't discuss that here...) But there were a lot of people who don't show up every week there. Call the "selective regulars" if you will, but they were there. Do the math.
Charlottesville has seen the success of the likes of Dave Matthews and the growing national popularity of Bella Morte. If the gods are kind, In Tenebris could be next.
So how was the show? It kicked ass... Duh. DC
- DARKCELL

"Great Music, One of Our Most Talented New Bands"
Patrick Allen WNRN Radio
- Patrick Allen

ReGen Magazine
Posted: Wednesday, August 08, 2007
By: Matthew Johnson
Associate Editor

Orchestral synths, soaring vocals, and great production give this up-and-coming band's debut album a big sound.
Technically, Virginia's In Tenebris are brash young upstarts, having just released their first full-length album. Musically speaking though, their self-titled debut is a mature, professional-sounding effort that belies their newcomer status. Much of this is no doubt due to the classical backgrounds of lead singer Christina Fleming and guitarist/programmer Jdavyd Williams. Fleming's versatile soprano serves her well on piano ballad and rock anthem alike, but she's at her best on such quieter pieces as "Torch Song," where she evokes a deep sense of melancholy without resorting to the affectations so prevalent in the goth scene. Williams, for his part, uses orchestral synth arrangements to give the band's heavier tracks an added sense of majesty; they're songs that you'd expect to hear in small clubs, but the grandiose sweep of strings following the guitar line on "Chrysalis" can't help but conjure up sights of Victorian concert halls. Despite the classical touches though, In Tenebris is most certainly a rock band. "Holy Ghost" gives Williams the chance to show off his chops with a blistering guitar solo, and the thumping electronic beats and chugging power chords of "Havoc" would do KMFDM proud. It's no accident In Tenebris has been playing regularly with The Last Dance and Bella Morte; they haven't been around as long, true, but they've got that same perfect blend of rock attitude, catchy hooks, and hard-to-resist electronics. It won't be long before they build that same devoted following.
Bit Riot Records

Collected Sounds Reviews
a Review by Anna Maria Stjärnell

In Tenebris make poppy and melodic darkwave and you can hear traces of Evanescence and Lacuna Coil in their sound.
Vocalist Christina Fleming has the angelic soprano and guitarist Jdavyd Williams supplies the sharp licks.
Opener "Chrysalis" has somber mood and tough guitar parts to spare and Fleming soars.
"At Sea" is a sensitive song, Fleming's vocals shining over the gorgeous melody.
"Torch Song" is a ballad that works well, Fleming's siren voice taking flight.
"Transcendence" is tougher and shows the bands skill at writing songs. Williams's guitar dominates it.In Tenebris are a special band and this is a strong debut.
Posted on July 22, 2007 - ReGen Magazine -- Collected Sounds Reviews

Date: Jul 2, 2006 9:32 PM
Subject: Hollywood - Bar Sinister Show
We absolutely loved the music. Cool voice and vibe and nice use of sequences with hard gtr. They immediately caught my attention last night and that doesn't happen all that often. - Paul Mircovich - CBS Rock Star Band Leader

Why In Tenebris front woman Christina Fleming is more Maria Callis than Amy Lee.

“I think I overdid it,” says Christina Fleming. “Like always.
She massages her arms, still sore from the gym. Dressed in tight black workout pants and a gray hoodie, the soprano is tall and lithe, like a scrap of dark ribbon stretched taut. Her shoulder-length hair, bleached white-blonde and dyed a vibrant red at the bottom inches, licks the sides of her pale face like fire. Light shimmers from the dozen or so piercings that frame her face and adorn her nose.
On this particular night Fleming is at band practice. I’m with her in the laundry room of her parents’ house. The washing machine next to me offers some distance from the litter box and the family cat’s latest gift to the world, so I hop up and hunker down to watch Fleming and the other members of In Tenebris set up their gear. The group is getting ready for a gig the following night in D.C.
The band’s setup is fairly straightforward: a female singer backed by guitar, bass, drums and keyboard. That last bit introduces a pop feel to a few of the group’s songs, creating a nice tension with the hard rock riffs that characterize some of their pieces. The band also avoids the use of standard amps, which combined with the half-acoustic, half-electronic drum kit, creates a distinctive live sound. The instrumental side of In Tenebris provides a solid show that can set bodies in motion, but it isn’t the reason I brave the litter box of doom. The voice is why I’m here.
It’s quite a voice. Think opera with eyeliner. The alien diva from The Fifth Element, sans blue skin, tentacles and digital effects. Lucia Popp meets The Cure. Many listeners liken In Tenebris, with its female vocalist and dark, alt rock vibe, to Evanescence, but Fleming chafes at the comparison.
“I’ve gotten Natalie Merchant, LeAnn Rimes, Enya, Lacuna Coil. Evanescence. Blondie, I got that recently,” she says incredulously. “It’s like people can’t handle you existing in your own right and being your own thing.”

Fleming talks about music the way a tech support guy might talk about computers—underneath the public generalities lurk a zeal and technical knowledge that many people would be hard pressed to match. She’s studied voice with the same teacher, Tanya Kerr, for a decade, attending as many as four lessons a week, every week. She holds a music degree from the University of Virginia on top of that. Her education really shines through when she’s asked to talk shop, touching on subjects like French coloraturas and second resonators that would leave the average concertgoer just scratching his head.

To sit in on one of Fleming’s voice lessons is to be ensconced in a perfect bubble that the outside world dare not pop. The familiarity between teacher and student is evident as soon as they are together, but the conversation pivots entirely around the latest opera news and the health of their own throats and sinuses. The lessons, held in the living room of Kerr’s Charlottesville home, have something of the Old World about them, a sense of delicate precision and hard-won mastery.

Getting down to the business at hand, Fleming faces Kerr, who is seated at a grand piano—an antique Steinway—from which she tickles out scales and chord progressions in the middle ranges. Fleming, her sock feet crossing and uncrossing, begins to warm up. She holds her fingers to her diaphragm, like a surgeon seeking to dominate the minute vibrations of a fine scalpel in his hand. Her shoulders push forward. Her face tightens as she pushes the air from her lungs into her sinuses. The chords go higher and higher, and Fleming follows right along, reaching a high F-sharp.

The volume is unreal. I am agog that a human voice can produce so many decibels. Waves of air pound against my eardrums. From 6' away, it is almost painfully loud. Later I learn that the technique, bel canto, was developed to bounce off the walls of the great opera houses of centuries past.

The band’s sound has developed as well. The drum machine is gone, replaced by Mike Johnson, whose dreadlocks and unlined face belie the fact that he’s a father well into his 40s. There’s also Marshall Camden, who moved from Hampton Roads to Albemarle to serve as the band’s keyboardist. Nathaniel Acker, a senior at the College of William and Mary, completes the current lineup on bass.

Of the five, Fleming, who describes herself on more than one occasion as being “painfully introverted,” is the one who seems least likely to get onstage in rooms packed full of beer-fueled strangers. “You’re really naked in front of people,” she acknowledges. “It’s funny because I feel my most powerful and my most vulnerable simultaneously when I’m onstage.”

Words, words, words

More and more of Fleming’s lyrics have been working their way into the band’s play list. JDavyd still shoulders the majority of the band’s songwriting duties, but only just. The difference between the pair’s focus - Dave Roisen

The band was fantastic, they are really good, this coming from someone who sees many, many bands and to be honest usually needs to walk outside, but the band was great, played great, sounded great and I feel was very well received here in California...
Rick Joyce - The Last Dance - Rick Joyce