Helevorn – Forthcoming Displeasures (2010)

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Having recently ‘discovered’ Helevorn at WGT 2011, we set out to find all their releases once we got back to the USA. Playing a mixture of Death/Doom Metal with some Gothic elements, Helevorn is one of the last remaining bands that keep the genre alive. With “Forthcoming Displeasures”, these Spaniards have cranked out 50+ minutes of crushing music that will surely impress any fan of the genre.

Since the opener “From Our Glorious Days”, the mood is set to dark and desolate place that only keeps getting more and more depressing over the tracks presented in this release. The mixture of bleak clean vocals with the crushing (and proper) growls makes the band a double threat and truly delivers in all emotional ranges. Opening with some atmospheric keyboards we have “Descent”. Keyboards provide a nice backdrop through this release and never get on the way of the crushing riffs, mournful vocals and mid-tempo structures that we all love from Death/Doom Metal bands.

In the more ‘Gothic Rock/Metal’ category we have the first few minutes of “Two Voices Surrounding”, we actually liked this very interesting change of pace offered at the beginning of the track and nicely blends with the growls. Coming back to the Doom Metal stuff, “To Bleed not to Suffer” delivers crushing riffs and very eerie atmospheric Cello sections.  “Revelations” and “Hopeless Truth” deliver more pounding riffs, tight drumming and growls from the underworld in a bit of a ‘faster’ paced scenario.

The best song of the album comes under the name of “Yellow”. In this emotional track, the contrasts between aggression and clean sections is very nicely defined and the ‘chorus’ section is very catchy and effective. Helevorn monumentally closes this release with “On Shores (Of a Dying Sea)”, in this track we get some evident My Dying Bride influences and it’s a very nice closer to such a brilliant release.

Keeping the Death/Doom Metal falm alive, Helevorn delivers a crushing album with very well crafted songs and powerful instrumentation. If you are a fan of Fall of Empyrean, My Dying Bride, and similar bands, do not let this precious little gem of an album get away.

Band: Helevorn Album: Forthcoming Displeasures
Label: BadMoonMan

Release: February 8th, 2010

Oficial Site myspace
Genre: Gothic Death/Doom Metal

Country: Spain

Rating: 90/100
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