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Rating: Anyone who listens to doom metal knows well which bands are the cornerstones of the genre. The likes of My Dying Bride, Anathema, Tristania, Theatre Of Tragedy, and others I won't mention now undoubtedly form the dark and twisted roots from which this genre developed, a genre that now boasts many performers, unfortunately not all at the same level. Add to this the influences from another highly developed genre, Gothic Metal, particularly in its "beauty and the beast" variant, which features the alternating vocals of a female and a male (often growling) voice. This vocal scheme was long the trademark of the already mentioned Tristania and Theatre Of Tragedy, for example, who canonized it and perhaps brought it to its peak. It is natural that listening today to a newly released album by a band that plays with those sounds so popular in the mid-'90s (when doom had just blossomed) inevitably comes with some prejudice, as if one is preparing to tread already well-worn ground. But in 2003, the Swedish band Draconian packaged a debut, this "Where Lovers Mourn", which pleasantly surprises. It is true that the elements used are somewhat derived from various groups: the angelic and ethereal female voice (Tristania, Theatre Of Tragedy and others), the alternating male voice between growl and clean/spoken voice (a bit of all bands), the use of strings (Tristania and My Dying Bride), the sudden tempo changes (Anathema and My Dying Bride)... Yet the amalgamation sounds perfect, each piece fits into place and contributes to creating a decadent and sick atmosphere that heavily relies on a certain romanticism in art and literature (typical features of English doom). The eight tracks composing this album are not all of equal beauty and depth (the group's creative peak will come later with "Arcane Rain Fell"), but there are truly exceptional songs and ideas.
The opening "The Cry Of Silence" already sketches with its keyboards and weeping guitars an overcast and grey atmosphere, enveloping and dark. Soon after, the male voice comes in with a recited verse, immediately contrasted by the subdued and distant female voice, which then gives way to the desperate and hoarse growl. The rhythm already starts to become more pressing and intense, rising in tone until halfway, where a break with the drums and a guitar in a slow crescendo is reminiscent of Anathema's "The Silent Enigma" and introduces a more angry part with almost death-like tones, splendidly dominated by singer Anders Jacobsson who vents all his repressed fury here. He thrashes like a fallen angel who, from the depths of his hell, looks up towards the bright clouds, where a heavenly voice banishes him from paradise forever. The track is very long and epic, yet not boring, thanks to the already mentioned tempo changes and the sublime pathos it manages to create.
Another beautiful track is "A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal", with lyrics borrowed from Romantic poet William Wordsworth. The song benefits from a skillful use of strings, giving it an almost more folk sound, and sees the prevalence of Lisa Johansson's female voice over the male one. A pressing and tense drumming serves as the backbone to the entire composition, illuminated by a less dark light than the previously described track, to the benefit of general melancholy and resignation.
Even the subsequent "The Solitude" features the use of violins to outline what is the main riff of the entire track, which at times can be a bit monotonous (and certainly inferior to the others in terms of emotion), but it has some really intense and moving moments.
Where the tones instead become harsher and more aggressive is with "The Amaranth", a beautiful and adrenaline-pumping piece introduced by the angelic Lisa who almost immediately gives way to the angry Anders, who strings together a series of intense and dramatic verses, then interrupted by a keyboard part underlined by the stunning guitar riff, present and sharp like a winter storm, incisive and feral. Truly a great piece, complex and articulate enough, lively and with excellent changes in atmosphere linked to the two voices, with continual shifts in time and rhythm changes.
Passing through the medieval-like "Akherousia", a female lament by candlelight, you arrive at the final stunning "It Grieves My Heart". In part, this track closes the circle opened by "The Cry Of Silence", repeating a similar yet equally intense and dramatic structure. The two voices, at least in the first part, are well balanced, with a slow and pachyderm-like rhythm typical of doom, revitalized by more acoustic and recited parts. Then suddenly the rhythm changes, one holds their breath and immerses themselves in a rapid spiral of suffering and pain, characterized by the triptych of growl - pulsing drums - swirling guitars. The break is short, about a minute, but it serves to give a precise shake to the track, which then promptly returns to the tracks from which it started, and concludes there, with an emotionally intense recited part.
The album is a great debut, definitely a must-have if you love gothic and doom and especially if you are already familiar with Draconian. It contains certain elements that will later be presented with greater mastery and command in "Arcane Rain Fell": at times it may seem raw and monotonous, but certain tracks, at least the ones I've mentioned, will certainly be able to lift the overall tone of the entire work. An excellent debut, keep going like this.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 The Cry of Silence (12:42)
Filled with sorrow...
Bleak inner self touched by pride,
devoured by solitude, still wrapped in time.
Flowing pain...
Holding myself back in suspicion...
and lingering in the dust...
the dust of my abandoned remains.
Killed with the dagger of life...!
Such an exquisite pride in my suffering...
alone, all alone with the emotional
streams of my soul...
So real, so pure... yet i'm left aside
entangled in fear... without hope.
Raped by the light of the world...
Scorned, left behind and broken down...
I am truly left alone,
but somehow... just somehow
it feels like my loneliness is a victory
over the self-delusion of joy... and happiness.
My heart beats faster,
the anguish becomes clearer
and my misanthropic view gets stronger.
Living in the shadows...
so proud of being the one,
but desperate...
so desperate for a helping hand.
Do I really want to live this life?
I have a thousand reasons to die,
and many millions of tears to cry... in silence.
The human plague has emtied my life,
and I curse the day I was born... to this world!
Still, no-one else I ever want to be...
and no-one else I intend to be...
'cause no-one else I was meant to be!
I need, I want, I long for my retribution...
I need, I want, I yearn for my retribution...
I want my retribution... I want it now!
Unity; a gathering of open wounds,
of dark... of dark clean spirits...
what a dream... what a dream so distant!
Why should I... why should I be alone
when I love... when I love my brotherhood?
Shall I die... shall I die to be free
when I cry... when I cry in silence...
so please let me die in silence...
oh my god, let me die in silence!
03 A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal (04:09)
A slumber did my spirit seal;
I had no human fears:
She seemed a thing that could not feel
The touch of earthly years.
No motion has she now, no force;
She neither hears nor sees;
Rolled round in earth's diurnal course,
With rocks, and stones, and trees.
04 The Solitude (07:54)
While stars outspread the night-time watch
and wind through darkened treetops swirl;
I slowly bow my frozen features
in grief, in sadness and in woe...
in grief, in sadness and in woe.
In solitude forever!
Forever I see, forever I hear, forever I smell,
forever I taste and forever I feel the solitude...
No voice (no voice), no hand (no hand) of human source
can reach me (reach me) in this place...
though fallen (fallen) figures (figures) closely passes
and invites me (invites me) into somber dance...
this somber dance!
Cold and desolate my soul turns grey,
(and) alone I witness the neverending day.
My wasted dreams lie silent and dead
within this darkened tears I shed...
this darkened tears I shed.
In solitude forever!
So lonely I stand on this tortured cliff
hearing distant cosmic echoes calling;
beckons me to decline this withered beauty
and leave this lie to greet the night...
the night without an end.
The solitude...
This solitary life...
Maybe I should just end it all...
Yes, I should just end it all!
05 Reversio ad Secessum (07:31)
A, mundus facit nos redire, redire ad secessum.
Spesne aliquando veniat animis tenebrosis quae solae ambulant.
Hear my silent prayer as I weep tonight!
Dawn gets greyer, thou hast taken flight!
Love abandons the soil, leaves a shade...
It whispers 'goodbye' as we quietly fade... away!
Lacrimae ex oculis meis fluunt,
sed crepusculum fletum meum tranquillat.
Please, give us wings to fly!
Without love our world dies... it dies!
To drown in the cold mournful sea...
So lost here in a world not meant to be... for me!
The fading moon cries in vain,
as the rising sun reflects my pain.
We sail on seas of guilt and shame,
but still we feed this love-lost flame... with hope!
Hear my silent weeping as I pray tonight...
Night grows colder, but I see a new light.
Beautiful night, to thee we pray;
Let the truest of love come our way!
Beautiful night, to thee we pray;
Let all the illusions just wither away!
06 The Amaranth (05:20)
[Voice of Venus:]
Thou art a flower, growing into his soul
You light his silent path of night...
Thy winds they blow for his love and shadows...
He's praising the beauty of thee... in a far away land
Thou art The Amaranth!
[Remberering failed love:]
Meeting... Connecting...
Wishing... Hoping
Embracing... Kissing...
Loving... Promising forever
Spending... Fading...
Crying... Despising
Bleeding... Screaming...
Suffering... Hating for love!
Never I knew a heart could be so true...
I dream to fly together forever with you!
Our crimson souls would surrender their pain...
Our tears would wash away the stains
It's so cold here... without you!
Within her, the essence of Night...
Within her, beloved Venus shines!
[Voice of Venus:]
Fading away, the last sunray... Fading away, the last sunray...
Autumn hath come to thy heart, Autumn hath come to my heart
But maybe the rain brings her to you... but maybe the rain brings her to me...
So true and so dark, her beautiful soul forlorn. So true and so dark, my flower!
She is The Amaranth!
Will she rise in me?
Will I rise in her?
[Voice of Venus:]
Will she rise in him?
Will he rise in her?
07 Akherousia (02:32)
My light slowly fades away
My hope's gone and went astray
But I see their dark dream-sails...
Take me away... from here!
In the cold of winter I found the other half of me.
An amethyst broke through the walls of silent solitude.
But we are lost in a world of despair,
So we head for the ocean; a destination unknown...
Maybe they want me to come on board
Maybe I'm cursed here to stay...
But maybe they want me to come on board
Maybe they'll gather all the lost souls...
Maybe they've heard our mournful cries...
And maybe they want us to come on board.
08 It Grieves My Heart (07:30)
The world is falling so cold and grey.
Shallow and empty life lingers on.
It grieves my heart, it tears me apart...
I hear this constant disharmony!
Now I ride with the mocking and friendly ghouls on the night-wind, and play
by day amongst the catacombs. I know that light is not for me.
Lost in a dead world...
With broken wings!
Human reality feeds upon a whore!
For what idols have these lowlifes
bowed their heads to build up a shattered world?
Kill the bitch on the cross...
Scorn their sacred loss!
And the sheeps are making love to the madness of the flow!
Is this all they know...?
The madness of the flow will take the final blow,
as the sun goes down over mankind's tomb
in the universal graveyard of filth and slime.
This is Our time!
Lost in a sick world...
Beholding the corruption!
Curse them all!
Lead them astray!
It grieves my heart they won't go away!
Now I ride with the mocking and friendly ghouls on the night-wind, and play by day amongst the catacombs.
I know that light is not for me, save that of the moon over the rock.
I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men.
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