| CD REVIEW Fall Of Empyrean |
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Band: Fall Of Empyrean The Doom / Death formation Fall Of Empyrean, formed ten years ago, did release two official full lengths before, besides a self-titled demo-CD, Anhedonia (2002; re-released in 2003 through CD-Maximum with the demo as bonus, by the way) and A Darkness Remembered (Oak Knoll Productions, 2004). In 2007 the band finished recording their third studio full length, A Life Spent Dying, with producer / engineer Ryan Butler at his Arcane Digital Recording Studios (Chandler, Arizona; guitar player in Landmine Marathon, and producer to bands as Misery Index, Phobia, The Funeral Pyre etc), but Fall Of Empyrean weren’t able to release the album yet. In early 2009, the band signed a four-album deal with Grau Records, one of Germany’s most important upcoming labels. Now it’s time for the long-awaited release of the third album, A Life Spent Dying. The album goes on in the vein of the former releases. The Doom-Death Metal is old school-oriented, and as a matter of fact it might sound somewhat passé, I’m afraid. Melancholic riffs, spherical keyboard lines, heavy and pounding basses, varying drum patterns, a deep growling throat, some acoustic parts, and lyrics about desolation, loss, grief and sadness… Think early Anathema or Theatre Of Tragedy, Pantheist, Officium Triste, Novembers Doom or Mourning Beloveth. American instead of European (like Novembers Doom, by the way, a band that also has a sound that differs from its European or South American colleagues). But at the same time it implements (lots of) clichés (but not the classical skilled female voices or neo-Gothic orchestrations) and a disappointing predictability. No, this material isn’t bad at all, and it will certainly be appreciated by everyone who likes any of higher mentioned formations. Yet at the same time it does not bring something that exceeds that very same material either. Above the average, that’s a certainty, yet not dethroning the top. 81/100 Ivan Tibos. |
