Ghost of Mary - Oblivaeon

Artist: Ghost of Mary
Release Title: Oblivaeon
Year: 2016
Label: Revalve Records
Genre: Melodic Gothic/Death Metal
Tracklisting:
1. The Moon and the Tree
2. Shades
3. Last Guardians
4. Nothing
5. The Ancient Abyss
6. Oblivaeon
7. Black Star
8. Something to Know
9. The End Is the Beginning
10. Nowhere Now Here

Formed in early 2014, Italian gothic/death metal newcomers Ghost of Mary have come together to add a great new voice into the genre with articulated and melodic progressive architectures and immersed in a dark atmosphere. Based on the original tale written by Daniele Rini as a sort of allegory about life and death, the group’s full-length debut was released December 2, 2016 on Revalve Records.

Coming off as a complete surprise, this here was quite the impressive and utterly surprising release that goes for the impressive and dramatic side of the spectrum. Ostensibly based on melodic death metal, the band wholly utilizes those rhythms and riffing structure with speed-driven, swirling patterns in their style to create a stylistically heavy, up-tempo album with plenty of galloping guitars and drumming together propelling this one along with the atmosphere found within a nominal melodic death metal band. Though this represents the main factor of the music, this is blended together incredibly well here by the inclusion of symphonic elements more in keeping with gothic metal in terms of using these elements to create a warm, romantic atmosphere within the music. This creates the appealing dichotomy of ripping, raging melody-tinged death metal with high-speed tempos alongside slower, lush atmospherics that goes together so well that there’s quite the intriguing and sound overall here. The main element against this one, though, is the fact that the album’s wildly-veering sonic style manages to make the vocal shifts appear wholly disproportionate for the type of music present which is somewhat of a stumbling block in the later half of the album. Given that deep, guttural style growl for a large portion of the melodic music just sounds awkward with the short, warm melodies and the cleans don’t fare much better either with their crooning becoming laughable in their attempts to interject melody into their rhythms especially on the attempts at balladry. Given that this is a debut offering, though, much of this is somewhat forgivable and doesn’t detract from this one all that much.

As it stands, there are a few problems here with the disparate vocal stylings throughout here, but the fact that being a debut there’s always a chance to fix this and it doesn’t distract much from the music at all which is far more enjoyable gives this one quite a lot of appeal to melodic death metal fans of those intrigued by darker gothic metal as well.

Score: 88/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
http://revalverecords.bigcartel.com/product/ghost-of-mary-oblivaeon

Misteyes - Creeping Time

Artist: Misteyes
Release Title: Creeping Time
Year: 2016
Label: Maple Metal Records
Genre: Gothic/Death Metal
Tracklisting:
1. The Last Knell (Intro)
2. Creeping Time
3. Brains in a Vat
4. Inside the Golden Cage
5. Lady Loneliness
6. The Prey
7. Destroy Your Past
8. The Demon of Fear
9. A Fragile Balance (Awake the Beast - Part 1)
10. Chaos (Awake the Beast - Part 2)
11. Decapitated Rose
12. Winter's Judgement

Initially forming in 2012, Italian gothic/death metallers Misteyes underwent a drastic changeover in the beginning as their sound quickly shifted away from a melodic death/black sound to a more prominent gothic-influenced approach heralded by rounding out the bands’ lineup with female vocals and a permanent keyboard. Ready to bring their vision of light and darkness center-stage, the group prepares its full-length debut release April 8, 2016 on Maple Metal Records.

As befits the bands’ style, the album is generally awash in lush, vibrant rhythms that take the steady, straightforward riffing style of gothic metal which is powerful, tight and rather light-hearted melodies which are the major focus here. This is somewhat technical yet still allows for plenty of extended sections of tight, swirling speed-metal riff-work that enables for harmonic meshing with the keyboards keeping in perfect sync with the tight rhythms as the album shifts dynamically between these explosive sections and a more mid-tempo prowl that works wonderfully here. These slower, more haunting passages are augmented by the operatic female vocals for the most part which is a glorious contrast to the lighter sections elsewhere that are dominantly featured with the melodic runs and swirling keyboard work creating this style and both wonderfully complimenting each other quite well. As this work here is the dominant vibe on the material, it’s given plenty of dynamic vibes by the wholly drastic manner in which it changes over throughout here as it’s quite adept at maneuvering through these change-overs quite well with the sudden crashing riffing blowing up the slower tempos while still retaining the harmonic gothic undertones present. While all of this is exceptionally enjoyable and made all the more so for it being a debut release, the fact that this is somewhat bloated in the second half with a few too many tracks does make this a little overlong and somewhat difficult to get all the way through here as the running time does make this a struggle at points especially with it featuring some weaker tracks. However, it does get a pass at this for being a debut.

Overall, this was quite a strong and dynamic release that offers up plenty of enjoyable elements with only a minor flaw here in their overzealousness to present too much of their material to the world that enables this to readily appeal to many fans of the gothic or symphonic metal soundscapes who will find a lot to like here providing that one element isn’t a detrimental one to the listener.

Score: 91/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
http://misteyes.bandcamp.com/releases

Dimlight - The Lost Chapters

Artist: Dimlight
Release Title: The Lost Chapters
Year: 2015
Label: Sliptrick Records
Genre: Symphonic Gothic/Death Metal
Tracklisting:
1. The Inception
2. Spawn of Nemesis
3. Shattered Idols
4. Invoking the Hunter
5. Dark Things of the Desert
6. Children of Perdition
7. Torrents of Blood
8. Fear of Heavens
9. Clash of Immortals
10. Fields of Carnage

The third full-length from Greek gothic/death metal unit Dimlight offers even more to like here with the bands’ take on symphonically ornate gothic overtones with death metal ferocity. As can be expected here, lush, grandiose keyboards swirl around throughout the majority of the work here which makes for an over-the-top display of orchestral work here from the keyboards being accompanied rather nicely with the operatic vocals being featured. Mixing the striking clean female soaring vocals with the raspy male counterparts may seem like gothic metal basics but it works here with the slow, pounding rhythms at the forefront of the bands’ other attacks. Coming complete with pounding drumming and the occasional deluge into romantic arrangements within the rest of the music here, it’s all quite fun and dynamic here with this one mostly utilizing the up-tempo work and offering plenty of gothic-tinged symphonics to put a lot of enjoyable work on display here. For all this good points, though, the band does tend to fall into minor trouble with the fact that there’s nothing really unique or creative about this kind of symphonically-charged gothic/death metal as it’s pretty basic and by-the-numbers styled work generating all the rather familiar notes here with one-note blistering drumming, up-tempo riffing and orchestral-styled keyboards offering a bombastic symphonic undertone. They’re clearly competent and cohesive enough but not without a lack of identity to really stand out here even if the songs themselves are enjoyable.

The first half here sets this up quite nicely. Instrumental intro ‘The Inception’ features a deep droning noise intro with a spoken-word storytelling set-up that leads into proper first track ‘Spawn of Nemesis’ featuring blistering drumming amidst grand orchestral keyboards charging along into a frantic series of symphonic flurries while keeping the Gothic rhythms at the forefront with the over-the-top keyboards and drumming continue swirling along into the light choppy rhythms throughout the final half for a fun overall effort. ‘Shattered Idols’ uses grandiose symphonics over blazing drumming and tight riff-work carrying along simple rhythms while keeping the over-the-top symphonics buzzing along through the series of thumping patterns with the extended instrumental interlude carrying the symphonics throughout the finale for a dynamic highlight. ‘Invoking the Hunter’ features a dark, haunting swirling series of riffing alongside the sweeping patterns and pounding drumming into a steady mid-tempo attack as the swirling rhythms lift for romantic keyboards and soft riffing that off-sets the quiet energy throughout the final half for a decent enough effort. The instrumental mid-album breather ‘Dark Things of the Desert’ simply serves as a brief storyline segue to lead into the next track.

The second half is rather enjoyable much like the upper half. Bleeding through the previous effort, ‘Children of Perdition’ opens with swirling riff-work and a blistering series of orchestral symphonics alongside utterly raging drumming that soon settles into a mid-tempo series of meandering rhythms and light melodic work carrying through the slight variances in tempos throughout the finale for a solid if unspectacular effort. ‘Torrents of Blood’ takes a swirling operatic intro with the symphonic keyboards leading into blasting drumming and sweeping riff-work leading the tight chugging riff-work and light symphonics plodding along to a slow, sluggish pace with plenty of sweeping orchestral work in the final half for another overall solid-if-unspectacular offering. ‘Fear of Heavens’ uses strong swirling symphonic keyboards alongside blasting drumming with plenty of tight riff-work that flows into a steady mid-tempo series of chugging symphonic patterns with blasting drumming carrying the bombastic keyboards along into the charging symphonic-led finale for a strong and impressive offering. ‘Clash of Immortals’ features light, soft romantic patterns before exploding into furious drumming alongside sweeping majestic symphonic keyboards and light gothic riff-work that deviates nicely between several strong tempos with sweeping orchestral work coming through into the final half for an overall fun effort. Lastly, ‘Fields of Carnage’ takes epic symphonic keyboards and haunting melodic notes to gradually build into crushing drumming blasting throughout the sweeping majestic keyboards that turns into driving mid-tempo symphonics with plenty of tight rhythms and ornate symphonic orchestral movements leading throughout the grandiose finale for a solid lasting impression.

For the most part, there’s a lot to like here with this one that ends up making it one of the more impressive and enjoyable entries in the style and as long as those can stand to overlook the flaws here with this one it’s a solid listen for those who enjoy impressive gothic-tinged metal or symphonics as well.

Score: 85/100

Does it sound good? Order from here:
http://www.dimlightband.com/shop/the-lost-chapters/