Fell Harvest - Pale Light In A Dying World
“Pale Light In A Dying World” is the poetic debut of Cheyenne Wyoming’s doom based group, Fell Harvest. Right from the opening track one can definitely hear the Paradise Lost “Faith Divides Us, Death Unites Us” influences with the clean style vocals, chuggy riffs, thick sound, and a pace that really outruns a lot of other doom bands that tend to rely more on distortion and drawn out riffs. The echoing vocals work to great effect and capture the emotional weight of the music, and with the rhythmic tones there also sounds like a bit of Primordial in there as well. Then there is the more somber pieces like ‘Pale Light…’ which has its acoustic, more progressive moments and slower, more dramatic tones much like a group such as My Dying Bride. While this type of doom track is predictable- starting out heavy, slowing down for the middle, and then harshing things up again, there is a bit more variation here, whether it be the change of electric/ acoustic guitar or the drums opting for their mid paced thundering or just quiet, percussive moments. For those who like doom heavy, ‘The Lark At Morning’ churns along with no room for quiet and will appeal to those who enjoy groups like Novembers Doom (minus the harsh vocals) with the riff style.
The most unique track on the album is ‘The Wind That Shakes The Barley.’ Much more different in its doom sense than the others it is very slow with its acoustic touch and haunting vocal focus. Things do start to pick up towards the end, but with the furious riffing it still sounds unique compared to the other tracks with its almost black metal-esque tones. For those who like doom at its most dramatic (but not quite My Dying Bride dramatic), then this track will be a solid choice for them. Then the rest of the album falls back more into the Paradise Lost vein. Slow, plodding, and heavy ‘Thy Barren Fields’ and ‘The Ghosts Of Scapa Flow’ are thunderous, yet calming, and just the right level of modern/ gothic doom without too much dramatic influences. ‘Ghosts…’ does try something new for the group with spoken word passages which is something listeners will not have heard yet, but it works well to the band’s effect, especially with the reverb drenched vocals. While they do sound like they are under water a lot, it has that unique tone that stands out compared to a lot of other doom metal bands and brings forth a bit of stoner doom influence.
Overall, while there are only 6 tracks, many stretch past the 7 minute mark, leaving room for some epics and making “Pale Light In A Dying World” feel more like a full length album vs. an EP. While some might feel it draws too much on mid era Paradise Lost to really make its unique impact, one cannot deny these guys have talent for the doom world and strive to do more than the standard death doom or gothic doom album. The progressive moments could be fleshed out more but these small bits alone do a great job at putting Fell Harvest above the average band. Tracks like ‘Wind…’ and ‘Thy Barren…’ will stick with listeners for days and certainly make them excited for what this U.S. based group has to come forth with in the future.
4 / 5 STARS
The most unique track on the album is ‘The Wind That Shakes The Barley.’ Much more different in its doom sense than the others it is very slow with its acoustic touch and haunting vocal focus. Things do start to pick up towards the end, but with the furious riffing it still sounds unique compared to the other tracks with its almost black metal-esque tones. For those who like doom at its most dramatic (but not quite My Dying Bride dramatic), then this track will be a solid choice for them. Then the rest of the album falls back more into the Paradise Lost vein. Slow, plodding, and heavy ‘Thy Barren Fields’ and ‘The Ghosts Of Scapa Flow’ are thunderous, yet calming, and just the right level of modern/ gothic doom without too much dramatic influences. ‘Ghosts…’ does try something new for the group with spoken word passages which is something listeners will not have heard yet, but it works well to the band’s effect, especially with the reverb drenched vocals. While they do sound like they are under water a lot, it has that unique tone that stands out compared to a lot of other doom metal bands and brings forth a bit of stoner doom influence.
Overall, while there are only 6 tracks, many stretch past the 7 minute mark, leaving room for some epics and making “Pale Light In A Dying World” feel more like a full length album vs. an EP. While some might feel it draws too much on mid era Paradise Lost to really make its unique impact, one cannot deny these guys have talent for the doom world and strive to do more than the standard death doom or gothic doom album. The progressive moments could be fleshed out more but these small bits alone do a great job at putting Fell Harvest above the average band. Tracks like ‘Wind…’ and ‘Thy Barren…’ will stick with listeners for days and certainly make them excited for what this U.S. based group has to come forth with in the future.
4 / 5 STARS
Self released
Reviewer: Colin McNamara
Jul 28, 2021
Jul 28, 2021
Next review:
Nihilanth - Graceless Planet
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