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Band: The Foreshadowing
Album title: Second World
Release date: 20 April 2012
Label: Cyclone Empire
Tracklisting:
01. Havoc
02. Outcast
03. The Forsaken Son
04. Second World
05. Aftermaths
06. Ground Zero
07. Reverie Is A Tyrant
08. Colonies
09. Noli Timere
10. Friends Of Pain
After the holocaust and in afterwards ruined world few survirors were struggling to survive in that merciless and dark milieu, trying to regain back their lost lives and hoping that the sun will come back to shine on their faces, but with grieveing hearts as they witnessed death, pain and the collapse of the world they knew. They saw the world breaking in two. The message was sent before the tragedy happened, but nobody in it's selfishness did nothing. Yet, they had to accept this half life. This was the forecast from depressive and melancholic work of art Oionos released in 2010. The prophecy continues in Second World. Survivors are now trying to rebuild a new civilization, with hope for a new golden age, but what man once almost destroyed now is turning it's back from him, pushing him again into the merciless enviroment with series of natural disasters. Who's to blame but humankind, a race full of evilness... There is a new warning, the cause and a consequence. The Second World.
One of this years most anticipated albums, at least for me, stands above all standards that were ever done in gothic doom genre. Yes, after their amazing debut Days Of Nothing and even better Oionos I was expecting a great release from this Italian outfit, but they surpassed all of my expectations. This epic masterpice steals your soul at the very first listen, but it needs a lot of spins to be consumed in it's entirety. Using best elements from both previous albums and adding new elements to their soundscape they reached perfection. From the first track "Havoc" we are emerged into exceptional abyss of melancholia and dark atmospheres proposed by the group. "You shouldn't run without a weapon, without the fire...": the army industry claims, but look where this statement pushed us... lyrical greatness depicts a movie like picturesque story. Great vocalist as Marco Benevento is, leads the listener through this conceptual work. Deep, theatrical, emotional and cold tone of his voice pushes the barriers of gothic and doom vocalists without the need to singing harsh, but at the same time he offers a lot of power and depth to all songs up here. Just listen to the beautiful atmospheres of "Reverie Is A Tyrant" where delicate and fragile vocal lines intertwine with slow melodic rhytmic section and gloomy synths creating haunting sonic enviroment, closed by magnificent guitar solo. Then "The Forsaken Son" with pounding, almost bombastic drums, splendid guitar work and morbid bass lines acompanied everywhere with pushed back dready synths. We are also witnessing some angrier words from Marcos mouths on this one. "Aftermaths" starts in a manner that even My Dying Bride will be proud of. The Foreshadowing have became the masters of creating catchy dark melodies. The acoustic beginning and overall ambiance of semi ballad "Colonies" brings back the memory of 70's atmospheric dreamy kind of stuff and it ends with kind of speech that brings shivers down your spine and again picturesque vocals that reminds a bit of Dave Gahan from Depeche Mode. Chants on "Noli Timere", spacey atmospheres of "Friends Of Pain", gothic doom metal at it's best and greatness of chorus on "Outcast". Everything and every tone in each song is elaborated till perfection. The tempo is always kept slow to mid fast with few outbursts. When this masterpiece ends I have nothing else to do than to push play button again and to get emerged into this beauty that The Foreshadowing offered.
Fantastic artwork done by Travis Smith, famous for his artwork for bands like Anathema, Katatonia, Opeth, Amorphis and Nevermore to name a few is gorgeous and represents well the concept of album. Production, mixage and mastering (done by Dan Swano at Unisound studio) are something that needs no words, only that adds a lot of depth, perfect. This albums also proves that the limits in creating marvelous things in gothic doom genre are not reached yet. If The Foreshadowing have been learning from masters of gothic doom, now it's time that masters should learn from them or better said, they have already became one of the elite. This album certainly deserves to be the first album on Terra Relicta with a rating 10 out of 10. A must!
Review written by: T.V.
Rating: 10/10
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