The Fallen
The Fallen Threads
Monolithe - Black Hole District (2024)
Black Hole District is french doomsters Monolithe's tenth album and marks yet another step in the band's musical and conceptual development. There is a narrative structure to the album, with the story taking influence from science fiction sources such as Blade Runner and Dark City. The story's protagonist, living on an Earth that faces annihilation due to the Moon having left it's orbit and falling inwards towards the planet, discovers, by a convoluted series of events, that he is in reality an android, not a human and this discovery looks set to cost him his life as the powers-that-be seek to terminate him for his knowledge.
The band have always made a "thing" of the track timings on their releases, which ties into their concepts, with Black Hole District's ten tracks alternating between one-minute instrumentals and exactly ten-minute long main tracks. Thankfully, as is always the case with the band, the specificity of the track timings doesn't feel forced and they never feel over-extended or truncated to accomodate these timings. I have a feeling that the band see themselves as storytellers every bit as much as musicians nowadays and, to this end, they have incorporated even more progressive elements into their music to the point where the progressive and the doomy are now held in perfect balance. This balance allows them the freedom to convincingly weave epic science-fiction tales without compromising on the inate heaviness of death doom metal, which is still, despite all the progressive flourishes, the heart and soul of Monolithe's sound.
A new element they have brought in, presumably specific to this story, is 80's style synths, in particular they have used the Yamaha CS-80 popularised by Vangelis, who is particularly influential here, especially (but not exclusvely) on the one-minute interludes which act as intros to the five main tracks, each one sounding like a snippet from the Greek's Blade Runner soundtrack. They have also brought in guest vocalist Frédéric Gervais of french progressive black metallers Orakle to provide clean vocals alongside new guitarist and vocalist Quentin Verdier's deathly growls, which gives the album a nice textural variation, vocally. Alongside the vocals a number of spoken word sections serve to advance the story and act as introductions to the events of the main tracks.
All this is the vision of the main man behind Monolithe, guitarist and keyboard player, Sylvain Bégot, who is the person solely responsible for all the band's songwriting and lyrics since their earliest days. I think that Sylvain's single-minded control of the artistic input imparts a cohesive consistency to Monolithe's output that may have become diluted by more diverse inputs. It has been obvious since the first album that, similarly to Ivar Bjørnson with Enslaved, Bégot's vision has always been beyond the boundaries of the genre conventions within which he works, even as he has no wish to completely set those conventions aside. He has now become exceedingly effective in how he weaves the doom and progressive aspects together and produces legitimately progressive doom metal as a result, with very few peers in the field. He is now able to convincingly produce a cinematic version of doom metal, that is able to impart the emotional and atmospheric highs and lows of great cinema. The poignancy of the closing track, "Those Moments Lost in Time", for example, is heart-wrenching, despite the heavy, looming main riff, as it references the Blade Runner death scene of Rutger Hauer's Roy Batty.
Black Hole District may not be unrelentingly heavy enough for some death doom acolytes, but for doomsters who love a cinematically conceptual tale, musically well-told with exemplary musicianship and songwriting then Monolithe are very much at the head of the pack. Although Blood Incantation will take all the plaudits for 2024 in this field for their new album, I don't think anyone should dismiss Black Hole District's claim to progressive extreme metal's science fiction concept album of the year.
4.5/5
Friends of Hell - God Damned You To Hell (2024)
I must admit that I am a bit disappointed that the doom metal legend that is Albert Witchfinder is no longer a friend of hell, his position as vocalist having been superceded by Nifelheim's Per "Hellbutcher" Gustavsson. However, having come to terms with the album's lack of Sir Albert, I must admit that Hellbutcher's vocal style actually suits the band's sound pretty well, not diverging that much from Witchfinder's. That sound, as you may guess from the band name which of course references Witchfinder General's second album, is a throwback style to the early days of traditional doom metal as epitomised by the likes of WG, Pentagram, The Obsessed, Paul Chain and the likes. As such, this sits very much in that area of doom metal that resides nearest to old-school, Sabbathian stoner metal with hooky riffs and catchy choruses, the album even having the audacity to begin with a tolling bell.
To be honest I have heard so many albums like this that trade on the same old traditional doom metal tropes without bringing anything new or particularly exceptional to the table that I am starting to think that maybe I have reached my lifetime limit for such genre-conforming releases and am beginning to tire of each one just a little more than the previous. There really isn't that much to say about God Damned You to Hell and if you have had your ears anywhere near the occult-themed traditional doom metal scene over the years, then I am sure you will be familiar with what is on offer here. Think Reverend Bizarre, but with considerably shorter songs or With the Dead and you would be in the right ballpark.
In all honesty, there really isn't much wrong with this if you are in the market for what they are selling, it is entertaining enough with quite catchy doom metal riffs, hokey, occult-based lyrics and some reasonable guitar solos and at one time, not so long ago, I would probably have lapped this up, but it doesn't do anything remotely special and I find myself increasingly looking towards more extreme and genuinely dark material (as opposed to the theatrical darkness displayed here) when I am seeking my doom metal fix nowadays. I have got to confess that I am feeling a bit bummed out that I have had to shit on this a bit, but I'm really not feeling it, so it is what it is.
3/5
I was planning on just sharing my thoughts on Trail of Tears' 1997 demo When Silence Cries, but then I finally found their rare 1996 demo from when they were originally called Natt, so let's check them both of them out...
Natt (Norwegian for "Night") was the earliest incarnation of Trail of Tears, formed in 1994. They were much different from the Trail of Tears we know. There's barely, if at all, any of the orchestral synths that have marked an important aspect of their later sound. The harsh/female vocal ratio is closer to that of Free Fall Into Fear and Existentia, with the small amount of female singing coming from vocalist Ales Vik, not bad but can't surpass the later female vocalists. The sound itself can be considered melodic death-doom in a similar vein to Amorphis' Tales from the Thousand Lakes and 90s October Tide, rather than Trail of Tears' brand of epic extreme gothic metal. It's a decent demo, though I won't say many of the songs would be considered highlights. The ones I enjoy are in the B-side; "Once a Paradise" (later re-recorded as a bonus track for Trail of Tears' debut Disclosure in Red) and "Sadness". Nice demo, but not worth returning to....
Favorites: "Once a Paradise", "Sadness"
3/5
One year later, the band consisting of bassist Kjell Rune Hagen, guitarists Terje Heiseldal and Michael S. Krumins, and vocalist Ronny Thorsen had the name changed to Trail of Tears and recorded the demo When Silence Cries. I was actually able to find this demo easily when I first got fully interested in this band a year before this comment, that's how common it was compared to the Natt demo. Background synths became more prominently used, though they sound a little odd here. Helena Iren Michaelsen comes in with her operatic soprano that, like I said above, can surpass Ales Vik. The gothic/melodeath sound that is who they are is in full force, kinda like Katatonia's Brave Murder Day with a twist by Epica (Helena would later join that band when they were starting out as Sahara Dust). I love the songs here that are demo versions of some highlights from Disclosure in Red. If you've read my review for that album, you know what I think of those songs. A better beginning for this wonderous band....
Favorites: "Mournful Pigeon", "When Silence Cries"
3.5/5
Smoulder - Times of Obscene Evil and Wild Daring (2019)
Smoulder are a five-piece formed in 2013 and centred around married couple, guitarist Shon Vincent and vocalist Sarah Ann. Times of Obscene Evil and Wild Daring marked the band's debut full-length and followed their well-received three-track demo, The Sword Woman, which supplied two of the six tracks featured here.
Musically the album skirts the border between epic doom and good, old-fashioned heavy metal, tinged with a pinch of USPM. They lean more towards the triumphal heroicism of Solstice's brand of epic doom rather the more mournful laments of, say, Solitude Aeternus with the tempos of most of the tracks edging towards the pacier end of the doom metal arsenal, never really dropping to the ploddingly mournful pacing more common of most doom metal albums. The downtuned guitar and meaty bottom end still sit this within the doom metal sphere, though, with only a couple of tracks, "Bastard Steel" and "Voyage of the Sunchaser", edging into heavy or power metal territory and both of which are riotous, fist-pumping headbangers. The riffs on display throughout are solid and project vitality, power and strength, whether galloping at pace or hulking at a more sedate pace. The riffs are more than capably bolstered by a tight-knit rhythm section of drummer Kevin Hester and bassist Adam Blake, both of whose work is neat and effective. The leadwork of both Shon Vincent and second guitarist Collin Wolf is confidently done, with some fine solos that are expressive and exhilharating without ever leaning towards the self-indulgent.
Inevitably, though, the main focus of attention is going to be vocalist Sarah Ann Kitteridge whose powerful pipes are perfectly suited to the more epic style that Smoulder are going for. Like a female Messiah Marcolin, her voice soars above the instrumentation, demanding the attention of the listener. This is no slight on the rest of the band members, but her voice does project such irresistible power that it is impossible for it not to become the focus and luckily she has the talent to carry off such a central role, never wavering or losing pitch which, unfortunately, I hear all too often nowadays from vocalists operating outside their capabilities.
The songwriting is generally of a high quality and is split between most of the band members, with only Adam Blake not contributing, which allows for some nice variation, yet illustrates the band's unity of vision as the tracklisting is very consistent. Lyrically, they fall back on the well-worn metal trope of sword and sorcery epic fantasy storytelling for the most part, with opener, "Ilian of Garathorm" delving into an old epic metal staple, Michael Moorcock's world of Elric and The Eternal Champion.
Overall this is a well-executed slab of triumphalistic metal that reaches back to the earlier days of the genre, yet is still refreshingly exciting and vital and should appeal to anyone who still loves the power and glory of epic metal storytelling.
4/5
Moonspell - Wolfheart (1995)
Contrary to appearances, I don't think I am especially dogmatic when it comes to metal appreciation and one illustration of this is the softening of my stance regarding gothic metal over the last couple of years. At one time I wouldn't have given an album such as Wolfheart the time of day, but exposure to top gothic metal perpetrators such as Paradise Lost and Draconian has definitely shifted my view on the genre and what it is capable of. I recently listened to Moonspell's 2008 album, Night Eternal and I enjoyed it quite a bit, awarding it a princely four stars, so I went into the band's debut, 1995's Moonspell, with high hopes.
Was this optimism justified then? Well, yes... and no. Musically there was plenty here that took my fancy, the guitar work especially standing out. The tone of the six-strings is great and the bass supplies a nice deep bottom end. The riffs are dolorous, heavy and quite memorable but the solos are the best thing about the album, in fact it's a pity the leads aren't given a bit more of a free rein as I would have liked to hear more from Tanngrisnir and Mantus in the vein of the soloing in the latter part of the opener.
Unfortunately Wolfheart suffers from the same bugbear that I have always had with a lot of gothic metal, that of excessive cheesiness. This takes the form of a heavy-handed application of synths, smothering a number of the tracks with a suffocating layer of 1980's-like keyboards that just doesn't sit well with me at all. The synths aren't the only issue though because the vocals annoyed me almost as much. The gruff, deathly male vocals are fine, but the forced, deep, clean male vocals that seem intended to mimic Gary Oldman in Bram Stoker's Dracula still sound as ludicrous as I have always found that style of singing to be. There is, of course, several tracks with supposedly ethereal female vocals but, and I have no wish to be unkind, the effect is ruined because, to be frank, Birgit Zacher is here sounding like she is fighting to stay in tune, with "Love Crimes" especially sounding like she is struggling. Then, as if that wasn't enough there is also the track Trebaruna which is a full-on folk metal cheesefest and does absolutely nothing positive for me whatsoever.
Overall, then, I would have to say that although Wolfheart has some aspects I really enjoyed, especially when it is at it's heaviest or when the leads are firing off solos, the album's inherent theatricality is just too jarring for me to excuse completely, no matter how much I may enjoy it's positives and so ultimately it's score has to be accordingly middle-of-the-road.
3/5
Earth - "Demo 1990" demo (1990)
I've got a real soft spot for these godfathers of the drone metal genre & that extends to their earliest recordings with this six-song demo tape being of a very high standard. This material is not all drone metal though. "Methadrine" sounds more like Black Sabbath-inspired stoner metal, "Divine Bright Extraction" sits somewhere between alternative rock & shoegaze while "German Dental Work" & "Dissolution" fit into the industrial metal space alongside artists like Godflesh very comfortably. But then we have the two enormous drone metal pieces that highlighted 1991's classic "Extra-Capsular Extraction" E.P. (i.e. "Bureaucratic Desire for Revenge" & "Ouroboros") with both of them coming across as fully-realised even in this primitive format, particularly "Ouroboros" which is an all-time favourite of mine. If you dig Earth & their various creative endeavours then you'll likely want to hear this one too.
For fans of Sunn O))), Boris & Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine.
4/5
So with the start of a new year it's once again time to have a look at the covers for all the releases for each clan. I personally like to rate a whole stack of covers all at once, rather than doing them one at a time throughout the year, as it allows me to get a better feel for where each cover sits in comparison to others. With that in mind, I've just rated every cover for releases in The Fallen for 2023.
Below are the releases that are currently competing for the prestigious 2023 The Fallen Cover of the Year Award (i.e. they rate at least 3.8 and have 3 or more ratings). The winner will be announced on the 1st of February, so there's still time to get your ratings in.
Ahab - The Coral Tombs
Ocean of Grief - Pale Existence
Fires in the Distance - Air Not Meant for Us
Smoulder - Violent Creed of Vengeance
Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean - Obsession Destruction
Abbey, The - Word of Sin
Oromet - Oromet
Obelyskkh - The Ultimate Grace of God
Acacia Strain, The - Failure Will Follow
Witch Ripper - The Flight After the Fall
Lethvm - Winterreise
Soulmass - Let Us Pray
If you want to contribute and rate some covers, the easiest way is to go to The Gallery and select The Fallen and 2023.
I look forward to seeing which release gets up for the win!
