CoC : Raventale - Long Passed Days : Review

Raventale - _Long Passed Days_
(BadMoodMan Music, 2008)
by: Quentin Kalis (7 out of 10)

Raventale are yet another Slavic one-man doom band located roughly within the depressive black/doom subgenre: heavily reliant on repetitive droning riffs with minimal shifts, much like the otherwise unrelated Ereb Altor, but evoking a mood similar to mid-era Katatonia sans the emotional impact. The vocals consist of a standard shriek familiar to anyone who has heard more than five black metal albums, but the use of distortion creates a feel little heard since the seminal _Filosofem_ (Burzum, dummy). Two songs deviate form this motif: the first is a comparatively brief instrumental piece that starts with ethereal keys before breaking into more drawn out riffs, and is immediately followed by a reasonably faithful cover of Anathema's "Sunset of Age", the sole song sung in English. The latter is surprisingly good and retains the intensity of the original, but I cannot say that the same level of intensity is maintained in other songs. Sure it's melancholic, but it just lacks that emotional kick to the balls that makes all the difference between a good album and a great one.

Contact: http://solitude-prod.com

(article published 5/5/2009)

ALBUMS
4/19/2011	C Drishner	6.5	Raventale - After