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Celestial Season Enriching the doom metal format with a more pronounced utilization of classical instrumentation, Celestial Season create music with an understanding of orchestral evolution towards sweeping emotional atmospheres that many of their peers aspire to, yet very few develop. The Dutch act’s second effort, Solar Lovers, substantiates this quality in splendid measure through a patience in song-structure that provides a spaciousness in which passages move smoothly and with much lucidity, in transition resembling eventide’s claiming of each passing day. Most of these songs function at a slow tempo, with shifts to mid-paced and occasionally up-tempo movements commonly associated with rock music. As typical for doom metal, the riffs are thick and ponderous, yet laced with melodic clean guitars and twin violins which provide atmospheric texture. While this approach is the foundation for most of the material, songs like "Solar Child" and "Dancing To A Thousand Symphonies" employ rhythmic grooves and psychidelic guitars common to 1970s rock. This influence also manifests in short instrumentals like "The Holy Snake" and "A Tune From The Majestic Queen’s Garden" , using bluesy guitars to conjure psychedelic auras. Elsewhere, brief neoclassical pieces "Fandango" and "Body As Canvas" use violin and acoustic guitars to portray forlorn elegance of a near regal essence. Vocals are delivered with faint whispers, maudlin spoken word, and growling. Yet the growls are provided a unique presence in that they never interfere with the often very serene atmospheres that surround them, as they are mixed at a lower volume that makes them sound as though they are being voiced from a hazy distance. This gives them a gentle, whispered effect that blends appropriately with the music, presented more as shade than focal point. "Enshaded in forgetfulness In the realm of atmospheric presence, Solar Lovers achieves a level of ethereal splendor and tranquil harmony that has rarely been realized in any form of heavy metal. The band’s ability to construct a song with special attention to the development of emotional climax allows for an abundance of deeply moving moments on this album. Songs such as "Decamerone", "The Scent Of Eve" and "Will You Wait For The Sun" are small symphonies of intoxicating sentiment, drifting through sorrowful soundscapes that flow seamlessly into transcending waves of sonic bliss. There is a charm to this band’s art that is alien to most metal bands, a sort of peaceful sadness that floats above the music, as evident in "Vienna", which builds from a haunting stillness into an uplifting sequence guided by piano and violin. The incorporation of the violins will bring My Dying Bride to the listener’s mind, yet the manner in which Celestial Season utilize them is of a far more delicate nature. Witness the enchanting "Soft Embalmer Of The Still Midnight", during which an exquisite flow of solemnity suddenly falls into a paralyzing expression of mournful emotion, only to be revived by an entwinement of two lone violins ascending from profound woe to a sweeping expression of emotional rapture, guiding the song to a stunning conclusion of crashing ocean waves. Oh, what a sweet melancholy! "I hear the music Solar Lovers is a marvelous atmospheric doom metal album. The work acknowledges the influence of the early 1990s British doom sound of My Dying Bride and Anathema as a starting point, and embraces it with orchestrations of breathtaking beauty. It is an album of strong consistency, structured to hold the listener’s mood into a contemplative serenity. Though much of the emotional atmosphere is sorrowful, the effect is never one of hopeless desperation, but an enchantment of life’s sadness in which one comes to the awareness that through the suffering of existence, the highest appreciation for life is discovered. It is a mournful celebration as opposed to suicidal despair. Celestial Season, for this effort at least, have established a connection with an understanding of this condition, and communicate the discovery through a poetically majestic and emotionally enthralling work of musical art. 4/17/06 Tracklisting: 1. Decamerone Celestial Season Discography Promises
(Demo, 1992) |
