CoC : Even Song - Path of the Angels : Review

Even Song - _Path of the Angels_
(Displeased, 1999)
by: Aaron McKay (7.5 out of 10)

I may throw out all my Theatre of Tragedy, Anathema, and some Within Temptation stuff. Why clutter an already crowded compact disc tower with a lot of music that isn't nearly as powerful as this group, Even Song? Of course I am joking about throwing out CDs, I'm too much of a packrat for that to ever happen, but you all get my meaning here, right? Displeased found themselves a real breath of air for this suffocating vein of music. The material on this effort is gloriously devoid of vivacity; sombre, yet an exploration into an ancient world of woodlandic faeries and moon-drenched serenity. A wonderful vocal presence on _PotA_ pulls on the listener's senses, dominating them with a thick cover of an ethereal female expression complemented by both clean and gluey-growl male vocals. The guitar work on _PotA_ is not overshadowed at all by either the percussion or the well-utilized keyboards. As a matter of fact, on track four, "Where the Devil Slumbers" (what a killer song title!), the riffing at about the three minute mark is some of the best I have ever had the pleasure to experience on any melodic doom disc. If you give this Hungarian quintet half a chance, or even half the time on their forty-five minute debut _PotA_, I am confident that you will also find reason to force aside a Celestial Season or The Gathering effort to make room for Even Song.

(article published 14/3/1999)