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The
old cane-holding fella in the cover artwork of After
the Fall is staring at a fiery, meteorite bombarded
rocky landscape. Yeah, that old man, I sympathize with
the big fella. He’s just not so solemnly gazing at a
doomed landscape, scorched earth, if you will. He isn’t
particularly happy. He shrugs, not only because of his
advanced age has bent his back but because desolation
overwhelms him. Maybe to the band’s understanding the
old fart planned or provoked the catastrophe in front of
him. To me, he looks like he is saying ‘oh shit,
there goes the neighborhood. Next time I build my humble
abode I better get me some fireproof roofing’. It
must suck. And it does in the world of doom metal where
music comes washed in frowned expressions and, in the
worst of cases, plenty of tears.
It may also be
the case that the old man is no other than God himself making a
rare appearance in a metal record, of all places. Malta’s
doomsters Forsaken are a Christian band you see. But judging the
quality of the music in display here you wouldn’t think so. It’s
well-known that the best music belongs to the horned one.
Especially in the world of metal where every other fucker claims
himself a goat worshipper. Well, not this experienced quartet.
After the Fall, their fourth full-length after a string
of stellar releases (or so I am told), is perhaps the best
record Candlemass never wrote.
Not to take
anything away from the Swedish masters though, but with a band
like this one their absence would go unnoticed. The thing with
Forsaken is that their music comes with the epic feeling of
awesomeness. These riffs are depressed, they run slow, they are
heavy and have some delicious crunch to them. But there is also
something grandiose and triumphant about them. Maybe that’s
where the Christian positivity comes in.
The vocals of Leo Stivala are also appropriate. Here is another
man who is a master of his range. A man wise enough not to go
too high, not too rich for a laughable falsetto. Better yet are
the guitars of Sean Vukovic. The dude dishes the riffs and
pulls back but at solo time, forget about the doom. He shreds.
He runs those scales like these are the guitar Olympics. And if
that was the case, he’d have great chances to win.
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