Beautifully Brutal
It’s difficult to describe a metal band like Fin’Amor without unintentionally pigeonholing their sound. Since 2008, the six-piece group from Brooklyn has been crafting a unique product uncharacteristic of a typical American metal band. Fin’Amor’s specific brand wouldn’t be out of place when gauged alongside melodic European metal bands such as Swallow The Sun. Although they dropped “Memories of Flesh,” a single from their much-anticipated album back in 2012, Fin’Amor has returned with their debut album, Forbidding Mourning, released July 7.
In Forbidden Mourning, melodious gothic composition is met with a progressive doom metal riffing structure that creates ambient soundscapes in a heavy, downtrodden death metal album. Far from any speed metal influence, the multifaceted guitar phrases find their merit in the enticing climaxes created by the weight they carry.
The album is introduced with a classical piano phrase as “Bleed the Oceans” begins. The song quickly erupts with doom metal guitar chugging and the low growl of vocalist Benjamin Meyerson. Throughout the album, Meyerson balances between his harsh growl and clean vocals, shining light through the grit of the compilation. A good example of this balance is shown in “Natura,” which opens with a thick metal guitar hook and displays a higher range in Meyerson’s vocals before a surging wave of distorted guitars and deep growling swells forward.
A standout track on the album is “I Am Winter,” a death metal epic that is a good synopsis of the entire record. As dark and crushing as the song is, Meyerson shared that the inspiration for the track stems from Disney’s Frozen, an animated movie about a princess, Elsa, who must shut herself away from friends and family for fear of harming them with her unwieldy and destructive powers of winter. Although a Disney movie might not be the most metal material, it fostered a pretty brutal track.
Fin’Amor’s often bleak and gloomy themes are contrasted with beautifully orchestrated instrumentation and intense moments of passion. Forbidding Mourning is an enthralling juxtaposition of the two extremes in the human condition; light and dark, good and evil.
Leave a Comment