Description

Kimaera, the Lebanese atmospheric doom/death act, released their third album, The Harbringer Of Doom, in September of 2013 and this is a band that goes back to early days of doom death finding inspirations from acts such as My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost and Anathema. While “The Harbinger Of Doom” is solid in terms of execution, the songwriting is somewhat shaky at times. Kimaera basically bounces between atmospheric gothic sections, trudging doom death and some groove-laden melodic death metal, but never really manages to fully intermingle any of those styles. The guitars and rhythm section remain fairly heavy throughout the entire release, the keyboards and violin accoutrements endlessly fill in the space to the rear of the mix, except for a few of the more grove heavy sections, like during the middle of “The Script of Sorrow”. There is barely a single inch of free space on this album. The orchestral keyboards sound similar to the symphonic drenched gothic scene, with overarching choral synths floating throughout. Going further with the symphonic gothic scene, Kimaera throws in copious amounts of higher register female vocals to provide a stark contrast to the deep and throaty shouts of the vocalist Jean-Pierre Haddad. I guess with the band’s Lebanese heritage, I was expecting a little more in the way of Middle Eastern themes. The album ends with a nice cover version of Anathema’s “Lost Control”, which are given a new touch since it features some harsh vocals. This is almost an hour of solid gothic and atmospheric melodic death metal, recommended for fans of old school doom metal in the vein of early Anathema, The Gathering, Draconian and My Dying Bride.

Track list:
1. Ancient Serpents
2. Daughter Of Eve
3. Praising My Pain
4. The Harbinger Of Doom
5. A Casual Stray
6. The Script Of Sorrow
7. Claim The Dark
8. Blood Of Saints
9. Aged Wine And Woe
10. Lost Control-Anathema cover