Inborn Suffering
Demo 2005 (Demo CD) 2005 None
Majestic melodic doom/death has become a big genre over the last five-six years. Much of it still holds strong ties to the Peaceville Three (My Dying Bride, Anathema and Paradise Lost), but many have still matured beyond them. This demo shows some promise of just this. The similarities are clear, but it's obvious that Inborn Suffering has taken the music a step further. This includes less whiny guitars and soft riffage with a sense of grandeur to it. It's nothing that hasn't been done before, for example by band member Stéphane Peudupins’ previous effort together with Niclas Frohagen: Ningizzia. In fact, while there are minor differences between the sounds, Ningizzia is the most similar band. With me being a great fan of Ningizzia, this is a quality branding, not a criticism of lack of originality. Like many bands do nowadays, the music includes different additional instruments like a piano and keyboards. However, the main riffage, melody, and deep growls are what dominate the music. The add-ons are just that, they add an increased aura to the music. The aura itself is well polished and gives me yet another mark of quality - goose bumps. Finally, I should point out that the recording quality is very high, as high as I'd expect it to be on the album itself. All of the tracks here are present on the band’s debut album, 'Wordless Hope'. Hence, it might be little reason to buy this demo when you can have this and more from the album. However, this is a very promising demo of a promising band which in my ears, belongs to the top notch in the genre.	1. Monolith 2. As I Close My Eyes 3. Inborn Suffering Approx. 23 minutes
Reviewed by: Arnstein H. Pettersen
Wordless Hope (CD) 2007 Sound Riot
After having heard the demo, I had high hopes for the full length. The demo had a very high recording quality and I was curious as to whether they would top it here. Undeniably, they did. The music is as pure and refined as it can possibly be. Not even all billion dollar pop-stars can brag about that. As mentioned in the demo review, this is majestic doom/death with lots of melody in it. I also mentioned that this is nothing really new and that the closest comparison is Ningizzia, which is halfway the effort of band member Stéphane Peudupin. Now that this generic description is done, I'll be dedicating most of the remaining space to the general feeling of the music. It deserves this much space because it is most of what really makes the experience of 'Wordless Hope' special. From the first track and onward, you'll be delicately led into an aura of grandeur that can fill a room of any known space. It's loud and sometimes a tad brutal, but mostly it's melancholic in ways that reach everywhere, from every corner of the external room to the innermost corners of the soul. The melancholy isn't intense in any way; it just flows along with the majesty of the music in a very comfortable way. To really grasp all of it, one needs to play the album many times and find all of the aspects of it. Only then will the wholeness of the album allow one to enjoy it fully. The beautiful guitar-play flows through most of the tracks, only interrupted by equally beautiful piano or the occasional brutal section. The vocals vary between male growls and clean male vocals, both which fit the music just about perfectly. There are even some clean female vocals on track seven, 'Thorn of Deceit', which is also the most depressive and of the tracks. I honestly can't find a single negative aspect of this album. It has everything I want from the genre and from this kind of music in general. If you like atmosphere-rich doom/death then this is probably the best offering from 2006.	1. This is Who We Are 2. Inborn Suffering 3. Monolith 4. The Agony Within 5. As I Close My Eyes 6. Stygian Darkness 7. Thorn of Deceit 8. The Affliction Corridor Approx. 64 minutes
Reviewed by: Arnstein H. Pettersen