Soul Forlorn
A Love So Dark
[Independent]
Fuck.
Again, I just have to say it. LABELS ARE FUCKED IN THE HEAD!!! They sign shit while leaving masterpieces to languish in the obscurity of self-released hell. Why do they think people are afraid of something original and unique in music? Okay, because most sheeple ARE afraid of such things... whatever. If that's the attitude of the 'above-ground', then fuck 'em - because staying in the underground enables gems like this album to be unleashed.
Toby of Eyes of Ligeia passed this along to me after he encountered Soul Forlorn on MP3.com, and after listening I can hear the appeal. This could roughly be called 'DOOM', but only in the most tangential (or, more precisely, ESSENTIAL) way - it's not creeping slabs of sludge, but rather music that is just so sorrow-ridden and mournful that you'd be inhuman if it didn't make you feel SOMETHING. Slow-melodic lines and mournful harmonies abound in these lengthy, epic pieces, but there are a fair number of crunching riffs, acoustic breaks, keyboard sections, even fast thrashing bits and technical solos - but always building that bleak, dark, EMPTY atmosphere of real doomy metal. DOOMY. Don't let the title of the album throw you - there is no fake kiddie/goth romanticism or flowery bullshit in the sorrow and wistfulness this conjures. The best comparison I can think of is Eyes of Ligeia - PURE DOOM. If you like one you'll like the other.
The music is mostly instrumental, as band mastermind (and sole member) James Evans started Soul Forlorn originally as an instrumental band - but we should all be glad he started moving into doing vocal music. His death vox appear on a few songs here and are fucking DEEP and brutal. There are a few whispers here and there too, but no choirs or clean singing - he leaves the sweeping elements like that to the instruments. The layering is amazing throughout, as is the cohesion of the unconventional song structures - nothing seems excessive or out of place. It's very technical music as well - there's very little chording and nothing exceedingly simple. Real riffs abound, from melodies laid over progressions to lead work to the acoustic work, bass parts, keys...
The details of recording are handled VERY well. As I mentioned before, it's a one-man job, but sounds basically professional. Drums are programmed but intelligently so, and ALL of the instruments are captured in the best possible way. The mixing plays up the strengths of the recording and deserves special note on its own - it really brings the layering out in the final product, as the different 'main' elements fade or grow in the mix really bringing a sense of dynamics to the music, and there are many subtle touches in the backing tracks as well - It's not just deep compositionally, but dynamically as well. You'll always notice something new on repeated listens. Shit, from top to bottom this is just so fucking good I don't even think my review can do it justice.
In closing, a note on the release - it's free for download from their MP3.COM page (http://www.mp3.com/soulforlorn/), or you can buy it through their DAM-CD program. I'd recommend downloading, though - the 'official' album is nine tracks, but they have two more newer songs posted that were recorded after the album was published, and these newest two songs ("A Bird in a Robe of Black" and "As the Candle Flickers") are probably the best of them all. Fuck the mainstream - support REAL underground artists like Soul Forlorn who put real emotion and heart into their music.
© 2001 lord vic
Again, I just have to say it. LABELS ARE FUCKED IN THE HEAD!!! They sign shit while leaving masterpieces to languish in the obscurity of self-released hell. Why do they think people are afraid of something original and unique in music? Okay, because most sheeple ARE afraid of such things... whatever. If that's the attitude of the 'above-ground', then fuck 'em - because staying in the underground enables gems like this album to be unleashed.
Toby of Eyes of Ligeia passed this along to me after he encountered Soul Forlorn on MP3.com, and after listening I can hear the appeal. This could roughly be called 'DOOM', but only in the most tangential (or, more precisely, ESSENTIAL) way - it's not creeping slabs of sludge, but rather music that is just so sorrow-ridden and mournful that you'd be inhuman if it didn't make you feel SOMETHING. Slow-melodic lines and mournful harmonies abound in these lengthy, epic pieces, but there are a fair number of crunching riffs, acoustic breaks, keyboard sections, even fast thrashing bits and technical solos - but always building that bleak, dark, EMPTY atmosphere of real doomy metal. DOOMY. Don't let the title of the album throw you - there is no fake kiddie/goth romanticism or flowery bullshit in the sorrow and wistfulness this conjures. The best comparison I can think of is Eyes of Ligeia - PURE DOOM. If you like one you'll like the other.
The music is mostly instrumental, as band mastermind (and sole member) James Evans started Soul Forlorn originally as an instrumental band - but we should all be glad he started moving into doing vocal music. His death vox appear on a few songs here and are fucking DEEP and brutal. There are a few whispers here and there too, but no choirs or clean singing - he leaves the sweeping elements like that to the instruments. The layering is amazing throughout, as is the cohesion of the unconventional song structures - nothing seems excessive or out of place. It's very technical music as well - there's very little chording and nothing exceedingly simple. Real riffs abound, from melodies laid over progressions to lead work to the acoustic work, bass parts, keys...
The details of recording are handled VERY well. As I mentioned before, it's a one-man job, but sounds basically professional. Drums are programmed but intelligently so, and ALL of the instruments are captured in the best possible way. The mixing plays up the strengths of the recording and deserves special note on its own - it really brings the layering out in the final product, as the different 'main' elements fade or grow in the mix really bringing a sense of dynamics to the music, and there are many subtle touches in the backing tracks as well - It's not just deep compositionally, but dynamically as well. You'll always notice something new on repeated listens. Shit, from top to bottom this is just so fucking good I don't even think my review can do it justice.
In closing, a note on the release - it's free for download from their MP3.COM page (http://www.mp3.com/soulforlorn/), or you can buy it through their DAM-CD program. I'd recommend downloading, though - the 'official' album is nine tracks, but they have two more newer songs posted that were recorded after the album was published, and these newest two songs ("A Bird in a Robe of Black" and "As the Candle Flickers") are probably the best of them all. Fuck the mainstream - support REAL underground artists like Soul Forlorn who put real emotion and heart into their music.
© 2001 lord vic