Gonna cheat a little here! Both these albums fit the criteria I set out here, but both have been already reviewed by me in my main journal. Was a long time ago, so I think I'm justified in reprinting them here. If not, tough: it's my journal...
Title: Forever Autumn (Yes I know I've already had a song by that name. Your point?)
Format: Album
Written by: Daniel Brennare
Performed by: Lake of Tears
Genre: Gothic Metal
Year: 1999
Acclaim: Unsure; don't think it's terribly well known outside of their fanbase.
Lake of Tears are, apparently, something of an enigma. Beginning in the early 90s as a black/doom metal band, this four-piece from Sweden scored critical success with their second album, 1995's
Headstone, which was an all-out doom/gothic metal album, but then for their third recording, 1997's
A Crimson Cosmos, they evolved progressive metal and psychedelic styles into their music, weaving in fantasy and mythological imagery to their songs. Much more melodic than doom metal, this was followed two years later by their fourth offering, which seemed to eschew the original influences entirely and is a far more laid-back, introspective album with hardly a whisper of black metal anywhere.
This is immediately apparent from the opening track, “So fell autumn rain”, with its mournful cello intro, picked up by piano and then crashing guitars, but keeping very melodic as the keyboards slide in, the vocal initially very low in the mix, almost an afterthought but still clearly audible and discernible. For the verses, vocalist Daniel Brennare kicks it up slightly so that you can hear him better, but it's the music that really carries the track: it could almost work as an instrumental. The intensely melancholic nature of the album is due to the fact that it's dedicated to the memory of Juha Saarinen, whom I have to assume is some relation to keyboard player Christian, though I can't confirm who he/she was.
“Hold on tight” opens on acoustic guitar, then the electric screams in and the song picks up, still mid-paced, almost a cruncher, but in the mould of a very heavy ballad with growling then crying guitars from Magnus Sahlgren, slipping back into the acoustic variety for the low-key ending. The title track then is another with an acoustic opening --- there's very little evidence of Lake of Tears' previous life as a doom metal band here --- and another ballad, with some very nice keys and introspective guitar. Brennare's vocals are clear and clean on this track, and you no longer have to strain to hear him. More beautiful cello here really adds an extra layer to the song, thanks to Henriette Schack.
The first real time the guys rock out on this album then is when “Pagan wish” hits, a mid-paced heavy rocker, with solid guitar from Sahlgren and swirly organ from Saarinen, then “Otherwheres” is a beautifully piano-constructed instrumental with slowly fading in acoustic guitar, with some nice sound effects --- rain, thunder, children laughing in the distance --- and some truly lovely and dramatic strings with choral vocals, to take us into “The Homecoming”, where Bo Hulpheres' flute makes its entrance and the song is another slow-paced rocker, nice keys in the background, almost unnoticed and an impassioned vocal from Brennare, measured drumbeats from Johan Oudhuis keeping the pace perfectly.
Another mid-pacer is “Come night I reign”, which you would probably expect to be a thrash rocker, but it's not: in fact, just about nothing on this album is headbanging material. It's mostly slow or mid-paced, often acoustic or partially acoustic, and indeed the best description of the music on this album would have to be “introspective”, as it certainly makes you think about things, like your own mortality. Lots of lyrics about death, sorrow, loss and loneliness. Christian Saarinen's keyboards almost seem to be crying on this track.
The enigmatically titled “Demon you/Lily Anne” again starts with deep, mournful cello, then Brennare lets loose with perhaps his most powerful vocal performance on the album, and even the music speeds up just a little tiny bit in response, the guitars heavier, the drums a little louder, even Saarinen seems to be stabbing the keys with a little more fervour. And then we're into the closer, the longest track on the album by a considerable way, clocking in at just over eight minutes.
“To blossom blue” kicks in with nice guitar, heavy drums and accordion --- yes, you read that right: accordion! --- with lush keyboards drifting around the melody like a ghost haunting the song. But the song is really a showcase and vehicle for Magnus Sahlgren's expressive and at times almost unbearably emotional guitar work, some of his best on the album. The final word is, though, reserved for Schack's sorrowful cello, and “Forever autumn” ends as it began.
Unless you're in a very depressed mood already I wouldn't look too closely into the lyrical content, as this is not a happy album, nor is it meant to be. But neither is it a typical doom metal album. It's hard to pin this down: it has elements of prog rock and prog metal, certainly, ambient music in there, classical, straight-ahead rock and even some folk elements. One thing it is not in any way is predictable, and even if you're a fan of Lake of Tears and think you've heard everything from them, this album will most certainly change your mind about them.
If, like me, you're just getting into the band,
Forever autumn is likely to come as a very pleasant surprise.
TRACKLISTING
1. So fell autumn rain
2. Hold on tight
3. Forever autumn
4. Pagan wish
5. Otherwheres
6. The Homecoming
7. Come night I reign
8. Demon you/Lily Anne
9. To blossom blue
Things I like about this : The slow, melancholic mood, the cellos, the unexpected instruments like accordion, but most of all, the surprise. This is like when I listened to Antimatter for the first time, and was totally surprised by what I heard.
Things I don't like about this: Pretty much nothing really.
Rating: 