Title: Journeys in Solitude
Label: Malpermesita Records
Release Date: 4 May 2018
Country: Belgium
Format reviewed: FLAC
Hell yeaaaahhh!!! It seems I’ve been waiting almost exactly 20 years to hear again something like this! Influenced much by the early 90’s gothic death/doom, Fading Bliss is just delivering a real journey through solitude with their brand new album! And what a record! 4 tracks resulting in 46:46 minutes of naked gorgeous absolute melancholy!
Even only by looking at the cover art I instantly recognized the velvet darkness and the romance of the butterfly...And I knew this record would take me over and will bring back forgotten memories and deeply buried thoughts and feelings.
I’m sure that all of us who followed this style in the middle of 90’s could instantly think of a dozen slow heavy bands of 6-7 members, with growing male vocals, accompanied by angelic female gently singing. Yes, by that time the scene exploded with such acts which by the end of the decade were drown into the symphonic female oriented heavy metal (bullshit) or just killed by the trends which were going on by then.
That’s why now the discovery of the new record by the Belgian band brought me so much excitement and a taste of nostalgia. And of course a lot of painful melancholy. Fading Bliss’ music is just gorgeous (I’m going to use that word here often), authentic, sorrowful, lonely. Eternal. Absolutely amazing!
Naturally, the tracks are long, heavy, very captivating, melodic, with lots of variety, abounding of solos. The sad soundscapes are delivered by pianos, clear dreaming guitars and the gorgeous (here it comes again) female vocals. Even the sound is bit rawer like in the mid 90s! All the above is perfectly structured in a grandiose atmosphere, like an enormous medieval gothic castle with many towers, endless corridors and pillars bathed by darkness and light, deeply hiding obscure romantic secrets of what’s have been and dreams of impossible being, bleeding hearts, lonely souls and minds searching escape of the prison called unbearable existence. All the record provides this tense atmosphere of delivering sweet pain in heart for the past days, faster breathing of this excitement and sorrow because nothing can be returned.
Lay down alone in your bed in a rainy dark afternoon, close your eyes and play the gorgeous (!) new album by Fading Bliss. You instantly will feel the life passing by, and the rushing hurricane of all that’s gone forever. Your thoughts will be lost and you will know what’s ahead is so not important, it’s unclear and it could not even happen. Unbearable solitude and pain. A genuine journey into the deepest corners of yourself. 9.5/10 Count Vlad
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