REMEMBRANCE – Fall, Obsidian Night
- Posted on 02-01-2011
Third album from this French doom/death outfit. These 7 songs have a funeral aspect, expect chords that ring out for days, keyboards that merge deep within the dark despair and vocals that switch off between death growls and softer, tranquil melodic female parts. “Stone Mirrors” rarely picks up beyond a low paced gallop but wins the listener over with the layers of guitar refrains and Norman Muller’s confidence in his laid-back doom drumming. “Our Memories Are Made Of Stones” clocks in at a paltry 4:34, giving the record a slight breather as the acoustic guitars, whispering vocals and softer keyboards make you feel like you are on a solitary boat wandering aimlessly across the open seas. My personal favorite “Winter Tides” even has a touch of early Paradise Lost in terms of atmosphere and pacing, loads of harmonic employment to offset the morose atmosphere.
Those into My Dying Bride will understand Remembrance’s frame of reference- approach with patience and a modicum of necessary emotional unloading- as Fall, Obsidian Night provides a great soundtrack if you feel like person to person problem solving isn’t your cup of tea. Honestly this isn’t a record that would feature in my consistent spins as you need the right mindset for such slow riffing, ringing out chord progressions and long-winded compositions- but the effect when you need something head and heart churning remains undeniable.