Altar of Oblivion
Grand Gesture of Defiance
Shadow Kingdom Records
2012
Altar of Oblivion, are a Danish 5 piece, that were formed in 2005 and released an EP shortly thereafter. Fast forward to this day and they debut, with a... mini-LP really, as the 6 songs that make up “Grand Gesture of Defiance” don’t exceed the half hour mark. While the band nicely mixes doom metal ideas, with a power metal ethos and tends to have some decent ideas, on occasion, their singer’s “unique” over the top, rather flat and not quite harmonious delivery, sells them rather short. The same guy is also the culprit for some rather comical intonations as well, throughout the album. What is even more questionable, is that at times, he seems capable of delivering, much better, but he tries too damn hard, to sound epic, that he ends up bordering on self-parody. I’m pretty sure that if he tried to sing, in a less pretentious and rather more straightforward way, the results would have been far better. (Light-years ahead in fact.)
On “Sentenced In Absentia” he’s actually half convincing, with a more straightforward, performance, until, he tries to do a really deep sounding baritone, passage, which sounds really disastrous!
It’s quite sad, as the band seems to have a drive and aptitude for trying to create a nice hybrid of powerful doom that they are set back, by the rather poor vocals. A few adjustments are in order, if they want to broaden their appeal, beyond, the lovers of whatever, bears the silly “cult” label. Oh and comparing them to the KING, just because they are Danes, is A BLASPHEMY!
On “Sentenced In Absentia” he’s actually half convincing, with a more straightforward, performance, until, he tries to do a really deep sounding baritone, passage, which sounds really disastrous!
It’s quite sad, as the band seems to have a drive and aptitude for trying to create a nice hybrid of powerful doom that they are set back, by the rather poor vocals. A few adjustments are in order, if they want to broaden their appeal, beyond, the lovers of whatever, bears the silly “cult” label. Oh and comparing them to the KING, just because they are Danes, is A BLASPHEMY!