THE PROPHECY — Salvation (review)

THE PROPHECY — Salvation album cover Album · 2013 · Doom Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
Time Signature
Reflections...

Genre: progressive doom metal

The progressive doomsters in The Prophecy strike back with a new album in the form of Salvation which is to be released in early February. And fans of melancholic music are really in for a treat here, because this stuff is really good.

As with much doom metal, this is really music for the patient listener. A glance at the tracklist will reveal that there are only five tracks on the album, from which one can deduce that its either a very short album or the songs are very long. Of course, the latter applies with an average song length of 12-13 minutes. Seasoned fans of doom metal and progressive metal will of course already have guessed that this means that there will be a lot of build-ups and break-downs and dynamic song structures on this release.

The title track features a very long introduction with clean guitars an melodic vocals before the distorted guitars kick in, and the song sets of into various grooves accompanied by progressive drumming and a combination of clean and growled vocals. The second track, 'Released' starts out in the vein of more traditional doom metal, but quickly morphs into a mellow and melancholic verse featuring expressive vocals and dynamic drumming. Eventually, it kicks into a midtempo pumping passage with chucking guitars and a couple of groovy patterns as well, followed by another mellow verse, which is in turn followed by a couple of different passages, the last of which has an almost metalcore breakdown feel to it. And fear not, oh metal purists, this works brilliantly. 'Reflections' is with its nearly five minutes of song length a more compact affair, but still The Prophecy manage to take the listener on a journey through various impressions (it even features a pretty cool groovy hard rocking riff of the type that one might encounter in a Fates Warning song). 'Silence' features melancholic keyboards and violins, and 'Redemption' nicely changes back and forth between old school death-doom and more melodic progressive metal and rock parts.

The production is crisp and clean, and the musicianship impeccable. The Prophecy's approach is really eclectic but at the same time very focused. There are elements from death-doom, traditional doom, progressive metal, and alternative rock. You find passages that sound like early Anathema side by side with passages that sound like R.E.M. at their most melancholic. It really requires skilled musicians to pull this off. And pull it off is exactly what The Prophecy do on this album.

Combining doom metal with progressive metal and alternative rock, The Prophecy's Salvation is for more adventurous doom metal fans, so if you are into acts like Chowder, Confessor, Barren Earth, Sorrows Path, and, of course, early My Dying Bride should check this album out.

(review originally posted at seaoftranquility.org)
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