adg211288 While Heaven Wept are a metal band from the USA whose music combines Doom, Progressive and Power Metal influences. Triumph:Tragedy:Transcendence - Live at The Hammer of Doom Festival – is their first live outing following on from the studio albums, Sorrow of the Angels (1998), Of Empires Forlorn (2003) and Vast Oceans Lachrymose (2009). This live album includes material from all their studio releases and has also been released on DVD (the following review is for the CD version).

Since I don’t know this band very well, I don’t have much to compare these live versions with, but what I’m hearing here has a great sound quality in the live environment, and I thoroughly expect this release to please fans of the band. Having looked through which songs get played the most on Last.fm and finding all the tracks that are on this released in the most played list, I expect the set list will also please the fans, especially those who have not yet had the chance to see them live.

I’m not much of a one for live albums, but this is quite the exceptional release from a very interesting band. The only quibble I think that can really be found with it is that they don’t play the song The Furthest Shore in its entirety, cutting the second half of the song out completely. But overall this sounds really great, and fans also get the chance with this album to hear some of the group’s older material with vocals from Rain Irving. I imagine that any fan of this band will be able to find a home for this in their collection, especially for the DVD version. The songs are great, the performance is tight, and the live recording has come out well. Not much more can be asked for out of a live release though perhaps next time fans would appreciate a much larger package than this festival appearance.

(Review originally written for Heavy Metal Haven)