aglasshouse MMA Reviewer's Challenge: Album selected by 666sharon666

If I were to say one genre of metal that I'm most connected with, it would likely be doom metal. It's a scene that I love and I believe has the highest amount of hidden and obscure talent currently in the metal world. This is not only due to their heaviness alone as some might think, but due to their creativity. Much of the underground doom scene contains very subversive and skilled musicians, many of which seek to blend doom with a variety of other genres of music, including but not limited to folk, stoner rock, and, in Australia's Rise of Avernus' case, progressive/symphonic metal.

Now, I'm no fan of progressive metal. In fact I believe that in recent years it's become the practical bane of creativity and experimentation, and a genre that has a formula so easy to cut and paste with very little effort. Sure, the musicianship is often good, but sometimes it just seems it's getting put to waste by inventing these sonic landscapes that prematurely age themselves by having the most cheesy structures imaginable. Not only that, but I believe progressive metal is a very hard genre to fuse with others because of it's overbearing nature, i.e. it will thematically downplay whatever other sound the band was trying to accomplish. So you take, like Rise of Avernus has done on their first full-length album, L'appel du vide, progressive metal and doom metal and combine them. It should be clear this is no easy task; doom metal and progressive metal are thematically opposed. One is neanderthalically crude, often channeling brutality without a second thought of subtlety, the other being a genre based (in theory) around complexity and innovation, along with extreme attention to detail. Looking at this they seem antithetical, but it wouldn't be impossible to fuse them. In fact, many bands have already like Katatonia and Opeth, and they did relatively well themselves. In general however, Rise of Avernus passes the ballot pretty alright.

Rise of Avernus focus their assault mainly on the aspects of massive symphonic crescendos and epic melody. This album in particular has a theme of a rally between operatic-like symphonies, represented by clean vocalist Cat Guirguis, and the rough, more archaic doom side with the growling Ben Vanvollenhoven. Sometimes this contrast works in earnest, especially on 'The Mire', a song that goes through a variety of different movements even being one of the shorter songs. 'The Mire' is particularly good in its subtle use of the orchestra, an element that many of the other songs on this album are bit too on-the-nose in their usage of.

The biggest problem with L'appel du vide is that it just isn't very interesting. Sure, there's a lot of material packed into one album and it's fairly progressively eclectic, but it's just doesn't pique my interest to the extent that I believe it should. While the orchestral elements are very neat and add a layered feel to the sound, it's still fairly static given the weapons in its arsenal. I find the best parts on this album are Guirguis' piano interludes with string accompaniment, and the metal elements are just a bit too roughly coincided with them. Not only that, but Guirguis' voice isn't that great either. She can hit the high notes fairly well, but she lacks the dynamic quality needed to convey and This album would have worked much better as a simple classical album or maybe a symphonic rock album. But doom metal? I just think that ups the cheesiness a bit too much to where even I can't make excuses for it.

It's a very interesting fusion what Rise of Avernus have tried to work with here. Although I'm not too fond of this particular release, I won't deny I am intrigued towards a followup. I'll finish by saying that L'appel du vide is a good album with a hefty amount of shortcomings. Shortcomings that can be easily fixed with a subtler tone and a much less overly-bombastic attitude.

Kev Rowland This Australian band have certainly managed to make an impact quite quickly, with their debut EP only being released in 2012, this album being self-released in 2013 and then picked up by Code666 for worldwide release at the beginning of 2014. If that wasn’t enough, they are going to be touring with the likes of Rotting Christ, The Amenta, Septic Flesh and Fleshgod Apocalypse this year. Now, I think that the final pairing there is going to be some concert as these guys also have a strong symphonic style, melding doom and death metal into something that is much more than either genre, with an incredible amount of power. Much of that needs to be accredited to drummer Andrew Craig who is an incredible workhorse and his approach is very reminiscent of the mighty Gene Hoglan, boy can he hit hard and fast (or not at all of that is what the music demands). It is the darkness combined with the light that really sets this album apart from so many others in the extreme field as while the growls are incredibly rough and harsh they are complemented perfectly by keyboard player Cat Guirguis who has a wonderfully clear and pure soprano. There are times when she delicately accompanies herself with gentle piano, but at others there is a brutal band here struggling to keep themselves contained.

So while they can come across as Paradise Lost or Anathema, to my ears they actually command more brute force and anger than either of them and given how long those bands have been around compared to a debut release, that is saying something. This is an album that definitely rewards careful listening and close attention as there is a lot of layering, and multiple musical parts that all go together in making up this sound. Progressive? Yes. Doom? Yes. Death? Yes. Orchestral? Yes. Powerful and over the top? Yes and yes. Indispensible? Definitely, although the Kiwi in me does have to point out again that they’re Australian which just goes to show that no band is ever perfect. www.riseofavernus.com

adg211288 L'Appel du Vide (2013) is the debut full-length album by Australian doom metal act Rise of Avernus. Originally self-released by the band, it has since been picked up by code666 Records for an international release, in 2014. They previously released a self-titled EP in 2012, which was released as a free download.

Described as progressive doom metal, as with a lot of artists who get labelled as progressive metal, Rise of Avernus' music is certainly most firmly rooted within doom metal, which a particularly leaning towards doom-death but there's no doubt that Rise of Avernus are much more than the average doom metal act, which is where the progressive influences really come into play. While most often you'll be hearing switches from thundering death-doom to light piano led sections with female vocals that aren't without a classical and/or gothic flair, it's really the amount of different stuff going into the sound that the band's progressive side really starts to show.

Not only is the music heavily symphonic, but you'll also encounter fast sections that even come close to power metal a couple of times, jazzy passages, oriental melodies and more. The Mire, the album's second track, includes all of these aspects and is an easy favourite of mine from the album. In contrast the opening song A Triptych Journey is relatively simplistic, being primarily death-doom in nature but from this point onwards Rise of Avernus seem set on throwing out the rulebook and doing their own thing. For the most part the results are nothing short of spectacular and I can also recommend Embrace The Mayhem as a highlight, particularly if you like a bit of saxophone in your music.

The vocals on the album are mostly done in the beauty and the beast format although some songs also have clean male singing in them. The clean male vocals are the only part that I'm not so fond of, they seem rather hit and miss as to whether they actually sound good or not. This is doom metal so the dreary tone isn't inappropriate, but certainly doesn't sound good to my ears. Given the strength of the growled vocals paired with Cat Guirguis' excellent singing tone for the music, the clean male singing does also come over as unnecessary, even in the instances where they sound better, as in As Soleness Recedes.

This is a very minor issue for me. The clean male singing simply isn't used enough to make a big deal out of it. It is however the only detriment to the album that really stands out. L'Appel du Vide was a grower for me; each listen has increased by regard for it a bit more. It was always a good album to my ears however slowly but surely it has worked its way up into my regard to ultimately achieve a much higher rating than I had initially expected it to. I can't quite go for the top tier for L'Appel du Vide because it's clear to me that Rise of Avernus still has some room for improvement, but that doesn't change that the album is easily one of the most impressive doom metal releases I've listened to. A 4.5 star range rating is deserved.

93/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/rise-of-avernus-l-appel-du-vide-t3288.html)