The Foreshadowing - Days of Nothing
Candlelight
Melodic Gothic Doom
10 songs (52'25")
Release year: 2007
Candlelight
Reviewed by Alex
Surprise of the month

Italians The Foreshadowing had me fooled with the song titles like Death is Our Freedom and the opening chords of Cold Waste, but not for long. This band is not about the funeral doom musical tones, not about being like Skepticism or even Swallow the Sun. Instead The Foreshadowing perpetuate well-crafted, almost relaxing, not overly dramatic, very professional sounding clean melodic sadness. That funeral doom intro of Cold Waste is followed by recent Lake of Tears styled doom rock, and many a place on the album are brimming with a blend of medium heavy riffs and gothic stylings (The Fall) or impossible-to-defend-from chorus hooks preceded by mood setting piano play (Departure). Not that The Foreshadowing does not revisit slower heavier moments elsewhere on the album, primarily with the title track and ominous beginning of Eschaton, but the band’s best songs are melancholic tunes like Departure and Last Minute Train projecting the sense of loss.

As I mentioned above, the album is very well crafted. Lead guitar is almost non-stop, but blends well with keyboard atmosphere and wandering acoustics. Bass lines are as steady as pulse, and sometimes are allowed a little run of their own (Departure). Drummer Jonah Padella is equally adept with staccato beat (Death is Our Freedom), or playing alongside waltzing rhythm in the second half of Eschaton. Above it all presides clean deep baritone of Marco Benevento, aka as Dust of another Italian band How Like a Winter. The latter outfit being quite a bit more gothic inclined, Marco sports his growl there as well, but with The Foreshadowing only clean vocals are used. Velvety and soothing, it is a perfect fit with the music The Foreshadowing plays. In a way this style is almost making a statement, similar to the one Novembre has been making as of late, that deathdoom is not the only way to lay melancholy thick. And what do you know, the album is produced by Guiseppe Orlando of Novembre. Another noteworthy comparison, also from an Italian scene, is little-known, but no less talented, Greyswan with its couple of demos and full-length Thought-Tormented Minds. On Ladykiller Marco’s voice is deeper, ominous and lower register sounding, making us even think that it is not the same vocalist. The closer Into the Lips of the Earth showcases him singing to a synth backdrop, very reminiscent of Depeche Mode, before the song shifts into subsonic frequencies.

If the latter days Anathema and Antimatter that followed suit excite you, if clean moody pensive harmonies appeal to you, if you do not require your doom metal to be earthcrushingly heavy, then The Foreshadowing deliver ten tracks you will most certainly find satisfying. This is a perfect music for the early fall, when it is still sunny and pleasant outside, and cold days chilling to the bone are a few weeks away, but inevitably looming around the corner.

Killing Songs :
Cold Waste, Depature, Eschaton, Last Minute Train
Alex quoted 80 / 100
Other albums by The Foreshadowing that we have reviewed:
The Foreshadowing - Second World reviewed by Milan and quoted 82 / 100
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There are 2 replies to this review. Last one on Tue Oct 02, 2007 1:42 am
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