To Listen Quietly...

The Fateful Hour - An Everlasting Silence (2013)

It's been a while since I've come across a melodic doom album that really managed to hook me by the ears, but The Fateful Hour's new release provided me with a refreshing dip back into the side of doom that relies more on developing their tunes through shifting pieces and counter-points, and less on megalithic slabs of riffing.  That's not to say that The Fateful Hour aren't heavy; on the contrary, they've got some impressively weighty bass presence serving as the bedrock for much of their material here.  But there's also a fluidity to their music, in the sense that they never really feel tied down to a piece of the song past the point where its utility has been effectively established.  Instead, the music has a persistent sense of the unexpected, thanks to the deep bag of musical tricks from which they pull to assemble each song.  There might be a quick piano flourish here, a sudden drop into near-solo bass for some atmospheric embellishment, an abrupt use of contrasting vocal styles, or... well, you get the picture.
Best of all, the band is able to string together all these parts into something that's tight and effective in the final product, managing an organic (though rapid-fire) shifting from moment to moment.  While trying to think back over even a single song from An Everlasting Silence and recall every last piece of it is a daunting challenge, when it's in the flow, it all fits together in a way that just seems natural.  The result of all this is an album that demands more than a few listens to really dig past the surface, with considerable bounty waiting in the depths for those willing to take the time to journey down.
~ Gabriel

For Fans Of;    Baroness, Opeth (Blackwater Park era), Have A Nice Life, Ulver, Lake Of Blood

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The Fateful Hour - Crumbling Pillars (320 kbps)

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