Having released an album in 1998, this Latvian lot split soon after. With two members sadly passing away, they eventually reformed in 2007 to play a tribute concert and decided to make another go of the band proper. Apparently they were pretty well known in their home country back in the day but am guessing they never really broke out much further as they are certainly an unknown band to these ears but with a slot at Metalcamp, perhaps there are brighter things ahead for this gloomy outfit.
The album certainly shows promise. ‘The Way Back Is Gone’ breaks in with a nice, solid metallic crunch and some melodic guitars working their magic around it. It’s got a highly catchy beat that has me tapping my toes. The album contains some symphonic overtones although these are well balanced out with the stomping metal rhythmic core. ‘Following’ is a particularly good track, and the whole tone of this feels oppressive and gloomy and you can feel the mist in the air on this one for real as everything glides down towards the pits of despair. The keyboard melody is slow and rather dramatic while the guitars are pretty scathing in their own way and vocals are a melodious growl.
There are some beautiful arrangements on this album and there’s also a sound to it that harks back to the days of early Paradise Lost. The stand out track for me here is undoubtedly ‘Life’ with its stunning female vocals courtesy of Eugenia Petrova that open with a spoken passage before breaking into an ear-piercing soprano which works in unison with the deep bellows of main vocalist Verons. As this one picks up there are some great galloping riffs and they really go at it full pelt while slowing down for the vocal driven verses that contain some rather soothing guitar melodies.
Overall this is a solid effort from a band that have been away for such a vast length of time. It’s nothing you won’t have heard before, but for those who enjoy Gothic doom metal this will go down a misery-inducing treat. Hopefully we’ll be hearing more from this lot in the not so distant future.
http://www.myspace.com/heavengrey
