Female fronted doom, vicar? Well, it’s a worn path, and one that can be trod well from time time. Personally, I was a massive fan of 90’s one-album wonders, UK doomers Mourn and their incredible music. Flame, Dear Flame hail from Brunswick (Germany, that is), and have produced this – their first album.
Not everyone would have the confidence to release a concept album on their first go, but Flame, Dear Flame (henceforth referred to as FDF for brevity!) have. Actually, it’s a concept album in two parts. The first three tracks here “The Millennial Heartbeat” trilogy, apparently refer to the oceans and the formation of land. Geographical doom may not already be a thing, but if it isn’t then FDF are staking a claim to it here! The final four tracks, “The Wolves and the Prioress” tell a folk-tale between them. Beats endless songs about how much the band enjoys smoking herbs, unlike 85% of their peers, I guess.
In terms of the music then, what do we get? Doom played in the pretty traditional sense, inspired by the likes of Candlemass and Solitude Aeturnus, but with some neat little nods back to more straight-up heavy metal, with the clean, pitch-perfect vocals of Maren Lemke. In terms of singing sound, she has a really clear, innocent delivery with quite delicate phrasing. Set against the solid riffing, the juxtaposition of the slab-like axe works and decent drumming with the voice is quite the thing. Song writing is no slouch either, with “The Millennial Heartbeat Part 3” probably taking the crown as the best song, with a surprise lurch into almost black-metal riffing toward the end of the middle section.
In terms of criticisms? Well, there are sadly a couple. A minor niggle is that the bass is pretty low in the mix. This is a shame, because coupled with the major niggle (the overall production and guitar sound), it robs the album of a lot of power. The guitar sound is pretty thin and reedy, which means that when the riffs should positively crunch, they don’t so much sound like tectonic plates crashing together, rather the dropping of a plate on a tiled floor. This is an album that really needed to have a heft to it, but the production, especially the guitar tone, has really robbed it of that power. What you are left with then, is a well written, well played and interesting doom album that’s hamstrung by its own sound. I really look forwards to seeing what comes next, but for now, I’m afraid I’m left wondering what might have been.
(6/10 Chris Davison)
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