The ever-evolving emotion of despair is a tricky thing to pinpoint regarding how it can be expressed. Hate can bring despair, as well as loss of anything positive, and then of course there is always lack of any faith or hope in general, but it's really interesting to witness that as your emotions continually morph, so does your output. This band is on to something here.
The Foreshadowing are a doom band from Italy that have been in a cocoon since 1997, waiting for the right members to join Alessandro (guitar), Andrea (guitar), and Francesco (keyboard). Finally in 2006, Davide (bass), Jonah (drums), and Marco (vocals; How Like A Winter) fulfilled the lineup. According to their bio, their aim is to bring you into an atom-sphere of apocalyptic tragedy and alienation from humanity and everyday life with a moody and powerful music. Sounds pretty damn fantastic.
Immediately as Cold Waste begins, the curtains have been closed. It starts off on a crawl with high clean guitar and suddenly crushes you with an immense, and even slower distortion-wall of sound…and then progresses into a f
ucking jam beat, reminiscent of Katatonia's Discouraged Ones. The song weaves in and out of these slow/mid-paced tempos, and the keyboards and lead guitar really create a genuinely abysmal atmosphere that makes me wonder if these guys even want to be alive. Though, the band plays off each other in exquisite profession.
Another worthwhile track to mention is Eschaton, parts sounding similar to Anathema's Serenades era (I promise that's it for the comparisons for the rest of the album). However, the intro and verse are truly something special. Slow and suicidal rhythms and melodies, depressing vocals and lyrics that are actually catchy (there's more of this on other tracks…those bastards), and an ethereal keyboard break that is moody to an extreme. Marco's voice is low, yet when he sings a bit higher than normal you can hear the lack of motivation, in that he sounds like he gave up on humanity long ago and uses the little strength he can muster to deliver mournful choruses. The lyrics on the rest of the album are more or less in this caliber.
There is a flaw here though. The album never comes full circle, in that there is no ultimate symbiosis. It makes its point, pulls you in, bleeds you halfway, but never finishes off. This may really ruin it for people, or what may ruin it for people is the bland-sounding Ladykiller…whatever just skip that track it's ok.
All aside, this is a damn great debut album. The production is very clear and cohesive, and as far as accessibility goes, it really depends. Most doom enthusiasts will most likely enjoy this granted you can handle an album with an unforgiving pace. Then there are others who think doom can be too depressing but if you don't like depressing music, then why the f
uck are you listening to doom? I would definantly keep your eye on this band; they're forging their own path of desolation away from the pile of mindless and generic doom bands. By the way, if you listen to the whole album, pay close attention to the final two tracks, because you should rid the room of all sharp objects and shoelaces.
“We don’t feel part of this world and we don’t need to believe in any creed, convention or lifestyle. We just wait for a right end of this wrong and cruel world”
