Review Summary: Frodo, is that you????
I'm gonna be honest, Fathomage is a band that wasn't on my radar until the other day. Yes, I'm a sucker for epic, symphonic, atmospheric, Middle Ages inspired black metal. When done right, this kind of music can transport you right to the middle of the dark land of Mordor. Well folks, Fathomage is a band that does it right and his (one man band) new album,
Autumn's Dawn, Winter's Darkness is one of the best albums you'll jam all year.
The fact that one guy arranged everything going on here is an amazing feat all on it's own. The symphonies here are very Summoning-esque, but don't get confused, this is no copy-cat band. Fathomage also brings the riffs so hard. The synths are definitely the focus here, but the riffs are tasty and have a lot of meat on the bone. Dark, medieval ambient bits are scattered everywhere in addition to the riffage to make your mind go in different directions all at the same time. He also uses his vocals as more of a background "instrument" and the effects are natural and make you feel as if someone is actually shouting to you through the trees in a forest.
Autumn's Dawn, Winter's Darkness is as authentic as a modern black metal album can get. There are certain bands that paint such a great picture and atmosphere with their music and Fathomage is one of them. All black metal fans and medieval nerds should hop on this one asap!
