| CD REVIEW Before The Rain |
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Band : Before The Rain Epic progressive doomsters Before The Rain return with a new album after the many difficulties (new line-up) they faced during the last years. However, it was well worth the waiting because the album meets for one more time the high standards of Before The Rain. Frail is a doom metal album that reminds mostly of My Dying Bride, My Mourning Beloveth, Novembers Doom and Saturnus something in the tempo, use of melodic accents, and the vocal style and how it’s implemented. Frail is a very long album, with lots of material, whose intricacies will reveal themselves with repeated listens.. Some of the melodies have an ominously brooding structure and progression that lends from the more atmospheric side of Katatonia and Anathema without burying themselves into too much worship of either band. It's, well, doom, gothic, progressive, death, a bit ambient, and even somewhat pop, seamlessly blended into one, and for this these Portuguese deserve a commendation. The vocals vary from whispers, clean singing and hollow screams, maybe inappropriate at the first glance but perfectly fitting at the second. Before The Rain as a movie is one of my all-time fave; I don’t think this will be the case with Before The Rain as a band, but this is a very good release, bordering on excellent at times. I look forward to their future releases. 88/100 Cosmicmasseur. |