RISE OF AVERNUS — L'appel du vide (review)

RISE OF AVERNUS — L'appel du vide album cover

Album · 2013 · Doom Metal

4.5/5 · 2014-01-20
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L'Appel du Vide (2013) is the debut full-length album by Australian doom metal act Rise of Avernus. Originally self-released by the band, it has since been picked up by code666 Records for an international release, in 2014. They previously released a self-titled EP in 2012, which was released as a free download.

Described as progressive doom metal, as with a lot of artists who get labelled as progressive metal, Rise of Avernus' music is certainly most firmly rooted within doom metal, which a particularly leaning towards doom-death but there's no doubt that Rise of Avernus are much more than the average doom metal act, which is where the progressive influences really come into play. While most often you'll be hearing switches from thundering death-doom to light piano led sections with female vocals that aren't without a classical and/or gothic flair, it's really the amount of different stuff going into the sound that the band's progressive side really starts to show.

Not only is the music heavily symphonic, but you'll also encounter fast sections that even come close to power metal a couple of times, jazzy passages, oriental melodies and more. The Mire, the album's second track, includes all of these aspects and is an easy favourite of mine from the album. In contrast the opening song A Triptych Journey is relatively simplistic, being primarily death-doom in nature but from this point onwards Rise of Avernus seem set on throwing out the rulebook and doing their own thing. For the most part the results are nothing short of spectacular and I can also recommend Embrace The Mayhem as a highlight, particularly if you like a bit of saxophone in your music.

The vocals on the album are mostly done in the beauty and the beast format although some songs also have clean male singing in them. The clean male vocals are the only part that I'm not so fond of, they seem rather hit and miss as to whether they actually sound good or not. This is doom metal so the dreary tone isn't inappropriate, but certainly doesn't sound good to my ears. Given the strength of the growled vocals paired with Cat Guirguis' excellent singing tone for the music, the clean male singing does also come over as unnecessary, even in the instances where they sound better, as in As Soleness Recedes.

This is a very minor issue for me. The clean male singing simply isn't used enough to make a big deal out of it. It is however the only detriment to the album that really stands out. L'Appel du Vide was a grower for me; each listen has increased by regard for it a bit more. It was always a good album to my ears however slowly but surely it has worked its way up into my regard to ultimately achieve a much higher rating than I had initially expected it to. I can't quite go for the top tier for L'Appel du Vide because it's clear to me that Rise of Avernus still has some room for improvement, but that doesn't change that the album is easily one of the most impressive doom metal releases I've listened to. A 4.5 star range rating is deserved.

93/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/rise-of-avernus-l-appel-du-vide-t3288.html)