THE DEATH OF A ROSE spans just over an hour mark with their 8 tracks, which ranges from the short 3 minute THE DEATH OF A ROSE (PART II)’ to the lengthy 10 minute ASPIRE FOR THE DARKEST HOUR. With the total of 4 musicians & 3 sessions, the album is a rich portrayal of the conjugation between progression & melody fused with Metal. The clean vocals are shared between Elle Torry & Sam Austen, while the growls & rhythm guitars are performed by Greg Chivers. The lead & drumming duties are picked up by Will Hall & James Last respectively. Their skills in each of their fields are evident in these 8 tracks where none of the songs feel less worked on. The album kicks off with ROGUE, a lengthy 9 minute track which introduces itself with an acoustic strumming, courtesy Chivers & the clean singing of Torry & Austen, before Chivers growls, Hall’s lead & Last’s tight drumming take over. The song jumps through the hoops of highs & lows, maintaining the pace overall while occasionally slowing down to let the instruments play. The powerful variations while preserving the dark atmosphere is notable & is sure to keep the listener interested.
LADY HERESY is one of the definite highlights of the album. The track surfaces with a clean melodious & catchy riff accompanied by an acoustic strumming. The song’s eccentricity & the progression are its main points where halfway through the song, it completely loses its tempo and builds it up again along with Chivers growls & a memorable solo so masterfully, it almost sounds like a masterpiece. The song speaks of a certain "Lady Heresy", who is being hunted down by an army of men. The lady tries to flee for her life but somehow her fate also wants her dead. As it is evident in these lines:
“..She runs deeper into the unknown
Nature’s fierce hands grasp her fleeing heels
She runs further from my heart
Her footsteps flows over the hilltops..”
FORNOST ARNOR’s lyrical abilities are quite evident from these lines. Their poetic nature gets more prominent from this point on as ASPIRE FOR THE DARKEST HOUR, DEATH OF A ROSE (I & II) & FAREWELL scream elegiac, both lyrically & musically.
Despite all the accusations, I found myself enjoying the album thoroughly. The overall dark & gloomy atmosphere, non-cheesy clean vocals, progressive elements, memorable solos & mature songwriting are the strongholds of THE DEATH OF A ROSE, which literally constitutes the whole album. There is absolutely no doubt that this is a thumbs-up album. RECOMMENDED!
Bottom Line
If dark & gloom, progressive elements, memorable solos & mature songwriting is your turn-on then simply go for DEATH OF A ROSE without wasting any further time!
