Lost Lifeless Lights

If you ask a usual metal lover to recite as many Latvian bands as they could, the answer would presumably includes the internationally appreciated Skyforger, or in best case, Neglected Fields or Heresiarh. Well, time has come to memorize a new name, and that’s the Riga based group Frailty. And for whom is this band recommended? Mainly for the doom metal fans but also for everyone who prefers the atmospheric, dark and honest underground music. This group has released an extraordinary debut, everyone should give ’Lost Lifeless Lights’ at least one listen.

The cover is really dark toned, the booklet is of high standard and beautiful, and the lyrics isn’t overfilled with the common „doom-phrases’ and obligatory words such as ’kill’, ’pain’ and ’angel’. The CD starts with a fairly atmospheric but absolutely unneccessary ’Intro’, and with this start I didn’t expect so much from this record at the beginning. But after then, the outstanding doom opus ’I Know Your Pain’ came. What can I say, it has really enchanted me! It reminds me to the atmosphere of Draconian’s music – of course without female vocals -, it’s melancholic, dark and uplifting at the same time. After that I thought that the whole record is written in this melodic doom style, and the other songs are similar to this track, but they really surprised me. For instance, their next song ’Ariadne’ is a bit faster, and has a viking/death influence (!), and the first song featuring clean vocals, which is the weakest part of the whole album. Okay, it’s not detuned but I often feel some strain in the vocalists’ voice. However, it could be the part of the concept to feature a painful vocal in the style of ’My Dying Bride’ – though the vocal tone is really different. It didn’t satisfy me at all, however, the harsh vocals’ appear more often so it doesn’t really bother me all either. Of course, this is my personal opinion but I think this is the only downside of the album if there any – of course, beside the mentioned Intro.

After that, the album is still exciting, and never repeats itself. For instance, the song ’The River of Serpents’ is a really great, slow doom opus, it’s highly recommended for the fans of funeral doom. We can feel the presence of death and black metal within ’Graphics in Ebony’ and also in the fastest song of the record ’The Fall of Eve’. This track is truly fast, not mid-tempo, with a great folk-influenced guitar theme. It was a bit strange for me at the first sight but now I admit that it’s a really great song! I would also like to mention the last track which is a cover from a now split-up Latvian rock band Monro, it is also really deep. However I don’t know the original version and I think I am not the only one.

I won’t analyse the skill of the musicians here because it’s obvious that each member of the group could play more if they have to. But their teamwork is really good, they co-operate well with each other instead of being an „instrument-hero”. I’ve told about the clean vocals but haven’t told about the main vocals which are absolutely great! We can clearly hear every single word – however, the pronounciation is not the best -, and the vocal style is varying from the doom/death growl to the harsh black metal vocal style. The album’s sound is simply exquisite. The keyboards are in the background a bit and it gives a heavier tune to the songs but also makes them deep. The atmosphere is so strong in the whole record, and if I should choose the most atmospheric doom metal release of 2008, I won’t be able to decide which is better: ’Bliss of Solitude’ from the band Isole or this release. It’s a really outstanding record from an exotic country – considering nowadays’ metal scene – and it’s more than perfect for a debut. First-class effort, highly recommended, but only for those darkened days.

( Originally written for http://kronosmortus.hu )