Rating: 9.0

Country: USA

Release Date: 2008

Record Label: Fastaris

Track list:
1. Quelling of the Dawn      
2. Graves are the Footsteps of Angels      
3. And I Languish      
4. Sodden With the Blood of Tragedies      
5. The Damnationist      
6. Goliath's Pain      
7. Crestfallen

Band Website: Forevers' Fallen Grace

Forevers' Fallen Grace - Herald of Twilight

Michael Ferro- Vocals
Ken McKee- Guitars
Frank Balliro- Bass
Kevin Blakey - Keys/Synth
Mark Sellig- Drums

I'm highly suspicious of anything retro. Disregard that; I hate anything retro. This recent trendy, nostalgia-marketing 80's metal revival thing, for example; wearing dragon shirts, writing lyrics about knights, and generally being a creepy manchild is supposed to be punishable by asskickings and social leprosy. Oh, but now that that's generally acknowledged as "uncool," that makes it ironic, which makes it cool again. Or maybe since irony is no longer cool, being ironic is, like, double irony, making it cool again. I don't know. I don't care. The point is, such bands are hipster filth who need to figuratively be destroyed, and if that's the only knowledge I take to the grave, I can at least die satisfied knowing I never derived pleasure from listening to songs like "Slay the Orcs" and "Ballad of the Spider Queen." However, there's something to be said for bands like Forevers' Fallen Grace, who can see past the denim & spikes of the new wave of ironic posturing and candidly channel the energy of classic metal -- an energy that's not self-consciously retroactive nor modern.

Forevers' Fallen Grace basically play epic heavy metal with shades of gothic doom (in the sense of Anathema and Paradise Lost), and more specifically, I guess comparisons can be drawn to bands like Grey Skies Fallen. The fundamental difference here is that the metal element outweighs the gloom; you'll find more blues-drenched leads and Maiden galloping in Herald of Twilight than the sort of lumbering riffage you'd hear in a, say, Saint Vitus album. It's also worth noting that this is awfully hyperkinetic music for what could be classified as doom metal, peppered with sweeping legato strings of baroque piano acrobatics. Listen to the acerbic opening sequence of "Graves Are the Footsteps of Angels"; that's how you incorporate hyperactive neoclassical keywork into metal, any Children of Bodom fans who happen to be taking long enough a break from applying eyeliner to read this. Meanwhile, at the risk of appearing inept for making two mainstream references in one paragraph, the spiralling synth (and eventual sweep-picked guitar reprise of the said line) dominating "The Damnationist" honestly reminds me of what valid pieces of metal Dimmu's early albums could have been (were they not lost in self-indulgence, plagiarism and Emperor-aping). No, really. The synth is as it should be; colorful Wagnerian contrapuntal texture that never dominates the riffs. This isn't to say the pianist's role is understated (not that I'd usually mind), as he seems to be allowed a great deal of musical freedom, even exhibiting loungey casino flairs in the last song.

Vocal duties are handled capably by the crooning & wailing Michael Ferro, who sometimes comes across like a less theatrical Warrel Dane when he hits the higher notes lays on the vibrato. The double-layering of the harsh vocals results in a sort of mid-ranged guttural rasping that admittedly wouldn't be too out of place on a metalcore (the power of Christ compels you!) album, but such moments are tastefully relegated to commanding power chord segments. Meanwhile, while eloquent, the lyrics evoke more of more of a sense of romantic languish than the gritty despondence with which doom metal is so often associated. Even so, something about the singer's delivery is truly poignant; lines like "I've stood by so many graves / yet have felt so alive" would invariably come off as rather laughable and melodramatic from most vocalists, but Ferro's conviction sells it.

The production's a little weak, somewhat confined with annoyingly distant vocals. It could be worse; overproduction tends to irritate me more than stuff like this, and if I had a brick for every overproduced doom metal album I've heard, I could build a house. Still, I'd probably end up turning the said house into a recording studio that's not crap and donating it to this band, so if poor production bothers you, be wary.

The most compelling thing about Herald of Twilight is that it's not an album in the sense of two or three highlights drowning in a sea of filler; it's an album in the sense of a collection of great songs. Is it just me, or have bands neglected that kind of attention to replay value since the 80s? At any rate, it takes really good music to make me to overlook a glaring grammatical error in a band name (you put the apostrophe in the wrong place, guys), so support art that matters and check it out.

June 13th, 2008