THE FATEFUL HOUR - All We Leave Behind
March 15, 2016, 8 years ago
(Independent)
Proggy, melodic doom metal is served up on All We Leave Behind, The Fateful Hour’s second full-length album. The Massachusetts band play their emotive and passionate brand of metal in the vein of Katatonia, Agalloch, Anathema and other similar artists. Seven dirgy, mid-paced tracks make up All We Leave Behind and each track is layered with a similar construction, consisting of an ominous ambiance, somber reverb guitar picking, emotive, echoey vocals and vibrant atmospherics. Vocalist Ben Fortier’s pristine, clean croon is a perfect juxtaposition to keyboardist Zach Vezina’s harsh growls.
Opener “The Face Of Transcendence” takes a while to get going, but its late-era Fates Warning vibe soon bursts into a slow, dirgy doom crawl with venomous growls. It’s not the most explosive of tracks to open an album with, but it sets the tone of what The Fateful Hour is all about. The 12 and a half minute “A Forgotten Existence” is a mid-paced proggy/doom number, decorated with goth metal overtones. The tracks on All We Leave Behind are rather long, as some extend over 7-plus minutes and some even longer. Ultimately, there’s just not enough variation from song to song. However, The Fateful Hour has a lot to offer, but they will probably appeal more to the die-hard fans of this genre.
