FALL OF THE IDOLS (Solemn Verses) CD
Maybe I am biased on this band a little, but to me - when it comes to this really slow side of Doom - Fall Of The Idols is still amongst the best. Perhaps the best damn band in Europe to pace through songs like a snail. I follow the group since the early days and I can say they quickly were able to establish a certain kind of sound that they shape towards perfection. They sound like Fall Of The Idols first. You have to give it closer listening and you make out certain influences. This is what makes them and this album so special on one side. On the other side this is the last album with dummer Hannu Weckman who played some acoustic and lead guitars on this album as well. He passed away during the recording sessions. The band took its time with this album then. And they made it a great album. A damn great album. Their best yet.
The only complaint I had about the band in recent years was that they would make to little out of their possibilities with three guitars and stick to the sheer wall of sound they had going on with them to often. No more. This time I think they found a perfect blend of wall-of-sound riffing and additional guitar melodies. Especially 'Genius Loqi' with Hannu's acoustic guitars works out great with the multilayered guitars and its tricky arrangement swinging from calm and dark moments over Doom and Heavy Metal riffing to nearly Death Metal when singer Jyrki changes his unique wailing vocals of haunting choirs to dark grunts. And although this song stands out a little, the rest is in no way neary to just okay.
With 'Solemn Verses' you get an album of 6 great thick-as-lava-straight-from-hell Doom tracks that should not be missed. If there is any justice in the world of Doom then Fall Of The Idols would get the recognition they deserve with this album. There is definitely stuff out there that gets hailed which I think is not almost half as good as this album. Period!!!
(Thorsten Frahling)