This Chicago band came to my attention when mentioned in Keep It True festival forums; however, they are very different from the usual style of bands appearing at that festival. Quite rightly noted in the PR material, this release makes you think Bathory’s ‘Hammerheart’ and latter releases. “FDL” produce majestic tales and immersive musical sections that are usually associated with the aforementioned style, the vocals are epic whilst they mix some of the arrangements with music that Eternal Champion fans will appreciate.
The concept behind the release is that of a mariner who leaves the civilized world (citing depravity and injustice – a relevant subject in modern times!) in search of a land devoid of pain and suffering, a tale depicted magically by the artwork. What makes this style work well is the transition between acoustic and distortion. The band have this nailed. On ‘The Mariner’ and the closing title track, there is a passage of music, that sounds like a piece of music you may have heard before. Maybe it simply a clever trick of the mind. However, this alone, retains the story of the concept. The music is epic, not the warrior epic cheddar, the real thinking person’s music. I cannot say this is a release that you choose your songs; you take the full album and enjoy the entire journey.
Overall, this took a while to be immersive, but once you have the passion conveyed into your own consciousness, you get some pure and dirty tones that hark to some classics, but retain a modern take on such a style. I suppose this release and band are a bit of an enigma, the album is certainly not, what I had expected. After time, I have come to enjoy it a fair bit.
(7/10 Paul Maddison)
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