|
"The Red Sea"
is the latest work of Phil Howlett's
personal vision, Rote Mare. Phil Howlett
is a true doomster as it shown from
this release, which is kind of unofficial
album. If you pay attention to the
duration of the songs, you will notice
that they are lengthy enough to be
labeled as full album (but we still
count it as a demo release). Now let's
go to the core. "The Red Sea"
is a pure doom metal release that
respects some of the traditional tunes
and mixes them with more up to date
forms. This means that you may find
some Trouble and some Electric Wizard
together or some Acrimony and some
Reverend Bizarre stuff at the same
time. Do not be surprised if you find
a spice of Candlemass and Saint Vitus;
it is quite natural. This demo has
all the elements of a doom metal release.
The songs are mainly in slow rhythm,
but there are some short outbreaks.
The vocals are clean, but there are
a few harsh ones (Celtic Frost-ish
ones). The production is very good
and the cover very plain (as it has
to be if we are talking about doom).
So, are there any
problems in this release or are we
talking about a masterpiece. We can
talk about the later, 'cause the release
has some drawbacks. First of all it's
obvious as in the case of every other
one-man band that there isn't a full
band to support adequately the songs.
Of course Howlett has done his best
in a very passionate and honest way,
there is not doubt about it, but seems
that there are more to do. Moreover
there are some times that the songs
lack of interest. I wouldn't attribute
it to the duration of the songs, rather
to inspiration, and with this turns
again to the issue of a "normal"
band.
To sum things up
I would say that this is a very good
release, that will satisfy all doom
metal fans. I hope that Rote Mare
will be able to publish something
official and gain more attention,
because they deserve it. |
