Majestic Downfall is the one-man project of Jacobo Cordova, who is quite the metal renaissance man. Following the end of the band Antiqua, for whom he was the bass player, Cordova has formed two “bands” both consisting simply of himself. One, Ticket to Hell is more of a death/thrash affair, while Majestic Downfall sticks to romantic doomdeath a la My Dying Bride.

Though it is very hard to stand out in this doom subgenre due to the large amount of bands who utilize this style, Jacobo deserves a lot of credit for creating the band’s entire demo, The First Abyss on his own. All three tracks essentially follow the same path, that of the harmonized guitar lead driven sound one tends to hear with bands of this genre. This is not to say that all of Jacobo’s leads are ordinary. In fact, the guitar work near the beginning of the second song, In An Ocean of Fears is very well crafted and sounds a bit darker and harder hitting than most of the modern doomdeath you will hear, and this continues well with the final track A Tear of Understanding. This is in line with Jacobo’s stated goal to modernize the sound of 90’s European doomdeath. However, there are other moments where I just could not help but realize that these songs are retreading ground I know I have heard many times before, particularly throughout the opening track, A Bird’s Departure. In addition, the vocals simply fill a void and really do not stand out at any point on the demo. They have an echoing quality that seems like it should work, but mostly they just detract from some admirable guitar work. However, this could possibly be corrected in the future with better production or the addition of a full time vocalist.

Overall, a decent first effort especially considering it is the work of one individual. Jacobo obviously has songwriting talent, though I think that the addition of other band members would help him immensely. With the dedication and ability shown on The First Abyss, he certainly should not have trouble finding help. Fans of this style of doom should find enough to like here to want to keep an eye on Majestic Downfall’s future output.