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One of the
revelations of the Doomination of Europe tour 2003 in February was
the second band on stage : The Prophecy. They come from Halifax and
this means that they are raised in the middle of the nineties doom
scene where groups as My Dying Bride, Anathema and Paradise Lost
wrote history. Although some of these pioneers are evolved far from
their original sound, The Prophecy keeps the fire burning and
released a CD with some pearls in steady doom style.
I can hardly
believe that ‘Ashes’ is a self-made and self-financed product, the
sound is warm and fantastic. We can read on the cover : ‘Produced
and mixed by Al Smith’. Unbelievable ! It’s a small world : this
man was sound engineer in 1998 at the Tilburg gig of Anathema. Six
long tracks lead us through a mysterious musical landscape, like the
loveliness of a fresh flower at the break of dawn.
‘Ashes’ opens with
breaking riffs, a constant base with a momentary grunt, but above
all we must be charmed by the smooth carpet of keyboards. Halfway
this song there are clean vocals and melodic guitar lines; it all
sounds perfectly harmonious. It’s no wonder that the audience of
the Frontline was immediately fond of this group. Also ‘The killing
fields’ shows us more than one mood. A growl glides into slipping
notes of guitar, rough vocals and groovy rhythms. Then Greg starts
playin’ those fine melodies and virtuosity goes hand in hand with
accents and melancholy. The last two minutes bring us acoustic
guitar and a whispering voice. It’s filled with moments of
recognizing for the doom fan. It feels like homecoming and the
orchestra just plays your favourite tune in a slightly different
version. ‘O sweet oblivion’, we’ve heard it all before, but this is
something else.
The pinnacle of the
CD is for me nowadays the third track ‘The prophecy’. Slower doom,
voices full of lamentation and as a surplus the dominate guitars,
they howl, they cry and they take us by storm to guide you to other
places than this wicked world. This song has an introvert timbre
and ends as a folky tune. Sounds like an Irish band for a moment.
‘Dawn’ sounds
rather bombastic, with bright keyboards and a Neanderthal feeling in
vocals and drums. Many changes in rhythm, but even so there is
easily switched between different styles, going from acoustic parts
to death/doom. It’s the song which remind me the most of current My
Dying Bride. ‘Blackened desire’ rocks hard and it’s the perfect
song to react on your fucking job. The last song ‘Till light
enshrouds’ has some atmospheric moods with Hendrix guitars to land
in an acoustic meadow with peaceful feeling.
What struck me on
this CD : Matt has a perfect voice in many styles, the music breeds
the warmth of a group real musicians not stained by any commercial
aim. Old and new influences are mixed in their own creations and
I’m looking forward to their new release ! |
