bio - RELEASES - INTERVIEWS - REVIEWS
- Country of origin:Norway
- Location:Trondheim, Trondelag
- Status:Active
- Formed in:2004
- Genre:Atmospheric Doom/Death Metal
- Lyrical themes:Sorrow, Melancholy, Solitude
- Current label:Grau Records
- Years active:2004-present
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Rise of a new season - 90%
ShadowAurion, March 14th, 2014
From the opening moments of the record, you know you're about to be taken somewhere far away from where you're sitting. Crashing waves, ringing ship bells, clanking metal and bellowing steam couple with a bass rumbling that mimics the sound of an engine preparing to roar to life. Gentle acoustic strumming begins to overlay the noise, and then the lone man behind The Fall of Every Season launches us into melodic death/doom that acts like an aural film.
“Amends” is a very different record than the one that preceded it. “From Below,” the prior offering had a few moments of greatness, but was unfocused as a whole. Now we're given something tight and cohesive, something full of passion and anger and despair. The easiest comparisons to make are Opeth and October Falls, two outfits that also have a penchant for acoustic passages, weeping guitar melodies, dual vocal styles and song lengths that border on overwhelming. Marius Strand has placed himself into a league above that of his contemporaries with this record, no riffs or notes feeling out of place.
The biggest thing that “Amends” has going for it is its thick and enveloping atmosphere. This record sounds how a foggy Autumn's night feels. Marius Strand leads you on through the dark, down worn dirt roads through the woods, finally sitting with you on the edge of the docks as he tells you a story of how he lost everything that he had. “Amends” is a concept record of sorts, something I'm not going to attempt to break down in this review. It's a story of death and loss brought to life with roared, surrealist poetry.
Reviewing this record has been difficult, because on one hand, it's easy to try and make comparisons to other artists due to a similar style, yet it's also incomparable in its execution, energy and word craft. I would rate this higher, but it isn't perfect. It could have been, if not for the instrumental “A Portrayal” that's placed into the middle of the track listing. Generally, I find little noodlings like this wholly unnecessary and feel they only detract from the overall listening experience. It manages to break the atmosphere set by the first two tracks, but not enough to ruin the entire album.
Highly recommended, but especially for fans of Opeth, Katatonia, Agalloch, October Falls and the like. There's something to be found for everyone on this record, however. Now we have to wait and see how Strand can follow it up with the very, very high bar he has set for himself.
The Fall of Every Season - Amends - 100%
Tristanium, March 20th, 2013
The first time I heard The Fall of Every Season was back in time when he released his first album, From Bellow, in 2007. I never listened to it again, and to be honest I couldn't even remember how it sounds. Well, with the release of Amends, it certainly changed.
The album got my attention at first because of its cover art, and since I'm a graphic designer I got interested. While listening to the first song, Sole Passenger, the first thing I thought was "I'm listening to one of the top albums of 2013", and I'm probably right. Amends show us a lot of feeling, clean vocals beside deep guttural vocals, and a high perform of Marius Strand (the only member in the band). The second song, The Mammoth, starts more energetically with beautiful guitar leads and once again the powerful gutturals of Marius, mixing with his harmonic vocals and acoustic guitars. Marius' clean vocals fit perfectly in his musical context and not sounding exaggerated or unnatural. The music contained in Amends takes us to the atmosphere shown in the artwork, like we're lost in the ethereal waves.
The audition continues with an acoustic interlude, A Portrayal, a break in the heavy sessions. A deep, beautiful instrumental track lead by the acoustic guitars matches perfectly with the next track, Aurelia. After a short continuation of the previous track's acoustic guitars, the weight is all back with amazing, desolate solos once again before Marius begins his mournful singing. Guttural and clean vocals come together once again to keep the atmosphere created by Amends.
Come Waves only emphasizes the impression I got for this album. As the last track, it closes perfectly the audition, showing all the previous elements that make Amends a masterpiece of doom metal, also sounding like a "farewell" track. As I said, certainly one of top albums this year.
I must confess that I wasn't expecting such a great album from a unknown band to me, but after this, The Fall of Every Season got a special place in my heart and I hope he doesn't take another 6 years to release another album.
| Name | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Her Withering Petals | Demo | 2004 |
| Neglected's Motif | Demo | 2005 |
| From Below | Full-length | 2007 |
| Amends | Full-length | 2013 |
Melancholic, powerful, beautiful - 98%
These are the main three aspects of this magnificent album titled 'From Below'. Sometimes it displays them at once, sometimes all at different times, but there is not one second of this album that is sub-par. This album is almost perfect. Like everyone has been saying, it displays a perfect balance of brutality and serenity that hasn't been captured as perfectly as Marius Strand has. From what I understand, the three songs 'From Below', 'The Triumphant Beast' and 'Her Withering Petals’ are the main songs on this album, showcasing perfectly the three aspects I mentioned before. The other two songs are almost like interludes, which are both extremely calm, soft, and sorrowful.
Like I said previously, this album is as close to perfect as anyone can get. (In regards to doom metal) The acoustic passages are generally accompanied by beautiful piano melodies, which complement the guitar amazingly. The distorted parts are simple for the most part (No fast solo's here) but use this simplicity to Marius' advantage. In the later parts of my favourite song on the album: 'The Triumphant Beast', the heavy, loud and droning guitar chords are complemented with a harmonized melody which surpasses anything I have heard before in the genre. The melody is extremely simple, but has the ability to throw hundreds of emotions at you. Sometimes when you listen to this album, you feel like crying. Sometimes you feel empowered. Sometimes you feel like dying. Like I have mentioned in my previous reviews, this is the biggest aspect of music. The ability to make you feel the emotions that the writer intended to capture in his/her music. That is exactly why this album is perfect.
The vocals: Wow, just wow. Marius' growls are extremely deep and powerful but are never overpowering the music. His clean vocals are probably one of the best I have heard in metal. Period. The song 'Escape of The Dove' showcases his vocal harmonies brilliantly, and really shows us that this man can sing. That is what I really admire. Alot of metal vocalists simply don't have the ability to sing, but Marius does. His voice is beautiful, captivating, full of sadness, agony and just takes this album to places I’ve never ventured before. I'm almost lost for words as I am describing this album because it is THAT good.
I can't exactly insinuate the fact of how good this album to you anymore, so all I can say is buy it. Don't download, just go out and buy it. You can easily find it on the Internet or on iTunes. Why buy it? You will remember this album until the day you die. Well, I will anyway. I will probably want parts of this album played at my funeral. It is one of the most beautiful, melancholic and powerful experiences I have ever encountered in my life.
Sad but soothing - 95%
Before I heard 'From Below', I considered doom metal a genre which was ALWAYS very depressing. I probably thought so because I listened to albums like 'Dance Of December Souls' and after doing that I usually felt really down. 'From Below' was different. It actually was sad and melancholic but it soothed and calmed me down. It just didn't have that 'suicidal' atmosphere. That little difference attracted my attention to the album.
'From Below' has got a 'hidden beauty' within. The progressive mix of languid doomish riffs, some more melodic riffs and acoustic guitar parts makes a unique atmosphere of sorrow. The vocals of Marius Strand, both clean and harsh, emphasize additionally the feeling of sadness, melancholy, etc. Percussion parts are quite diversified and always suit the music. Furthermore, drums don't spoil the calm atmosphere in some moments (for example ‘Sisyphean’, ‘Escape of the Dove’, the middle of ‘The Triumphant Beast’). Worthy of note is also the depth, fullness of the sound - you never have the impression that something is missing or that the music is 'overflowing'. When you add the poetic lyrics to what I described above, you get a masterpiece of progressive death/doom metal (this is the term which in my opinion describes its genre most accurately). And the thing I like best about 'From Below' is that it's calming and sort of relaxing but also makes me ponder.
I think that Marius Strand’s album is very mature and for me it’s a classic of doom metal. Everyone who likes melancholic music should try it. I hope that next albums of that musician will be at least as good as this one.
Highlight: ‘The Triumphant Beast’
Bliss - 95%
From Below is beautiful, an album consisting of 47 minutes of masterfully crafted doom with an aura bursting with sorrow. Marius Strand has solidified his genius with this release, and let it go down that From Below is indeed one of the greatest doom albums I've ever heard.
As far as dissecting the sound, Marius takes a familiar approach with the vocals, a very well done death growl combined with a lifting, yet also horrifyingly, as the reviewer previous to me put it, desperate and beautiful clean voice, similar to that of Mikael Åkerfeldt of Opeth fame. At times, the clean, lightly soaring vocals put a strain on the music so the listener can actually feel the darkly sadistic tension, and the album fully brings out that dark, lamenting tone doom should be renowned for.
The instruments are also performed fantastically, from the cutting, majestic tones of the guitar and the slow paced, driving percussion to the symphonic nature of the keyboard which melds and blends into the guitar sound in a post-rockish ornament similar to that found in Agalloch's newest full length release, Ashes Against the Grain.
The combination of all these elements, a stylistic melding of the guitar and keyboard, the expertly paced percussion and the depressing overtones of the music clashing against Marius' beautiful, mourning vocals creates what I see as the idealistic sound of doom metal.
Addictive doom - 85%
2007 is a year of wonderful debuts, especially when it comes to doom metal. Funeral Mourning, Autumnal and Thrown are but some of those worth mentioning, and The Fall of Every Season can easily stand alongside these brilliant bands.
Just like a lot doom and black bands these days, is also this band a one-man project. I (almost) never experienced a crappy sound because of this aspect, and just like the bands who went before him, Marius Strand succeeds entirely in bringing us a mournful and melancholic album. With influences of the funeral genre and deathdoom, together with cleaner, though desperate vocals, he combines these elements into one brilliant sound on numbers like "From Below", "The Triumphant Beast" and "Her Withering Petals". If the album "From Below" would be known in the modern emo-culture, it would bring a burst of suicides just like Goethe's novel "The Sorrows of Young Werther" did in the eighteenth century. This work has such an immense impact, and due to the long over-ten-minutes lasting songs, you have the possibility of completely drowning in it's solitude, and that's what every not-traditional doom album should do. Even the more new-Katatonia sounding songs "Sisyphean" and "Escape of the Dove" are so insanely deep, that Strand doesn't need anything more to prove himself. This is how doom should sound, improvement would only mean he would be bumped right into the classics list of the genre (if this album itself doesn't already reach that status).
Every person who can appreciate some good emotional doom, should learn to know this band - although you be warned, once this album hits your stereo, the chances of getting totally addicted are truely and utterly high.
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