The Art of Grief

Ever wonder what The Cure would sound like if they were a Heavy Metal band? Well, barring what Katatonia's been trying to do since 'Last Fair Deal Gone Down' this is as close as you'll probably ever get. Over all this isn't a bad debut album, but there are some flagrant flaws that need addressing; for example this is tagged as Doomdeath, and while the Doom part of that title is more than accurate, the Death part is more than a little off.

The production (provided by the "Satanic Twins"?) is passable, although it makes this album more in the realm of good demo then good album. The guitars sound as though they've been tuned to standard, possibly half a step down. They are a mixture of clean and distorted riffs and leads. There are no solos to speak of. There is about an even level of palm muting to open chording. The leads are very reminiscent of 'Eternity' era Anathema to the point of cloning in a few places.

The bass follows the drums a lot but dose find time to add bits of flare here and there. The drums are pretty standard. The tempo's are steady at a moderately slow pace and never really get out of that speed. The keyboards are decent and add more atmosphere to the thicker guitar parts.

The vocals are alright but this is where the Cure reverence comes into full swing. He tries to sound like a tortured 80's Goth singer with the clichéd accented vocals that go from a mid to a high, rarely touching on anything else. These surprisingly fit the music however. As mentioned above, the singers "Death Metal" vocals sound more like a wounded goat trying to mate with a frozen goat corpse. If you've seen Vince Cavanagh's pitiful attempt at "extreme" vocals on Anathema's DVD 'A Vision of a Dying Embrace' you will have a generally accurate idea of what to expect here. The only differences are this guy is more consistent and worse overall.

This is a pretty original album for what it is however this is really a Gothic/Doom Metal band. Their cover of 'Small Town Boy' isn't half bad either; however Paradise Lost did a better job of it. In any event, this album is recommended to those who fit the aforementioned tag as they will surely find something of interest here.