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Inborn Suffering - Wordless Hope review



Reviewer:
8.6

41 users:
8.39
Band: Inborn Suffering
Album: Wordless Hope
Release date: 2006


01. This Is Who We Are
02. Inborn Suffering
03. Monolith
04. The Agony Within
05. As I Close My Eyes
06. Stygian Darkness
07. Thorn Of Deceit
08. The Affliction Corridor

France has a pretty strong underground doom metal scene going on and one these highly interesting acts coming from there have to be Inborn Suffering. Being a fan of their music since their demo days i can say that i was waiting for their debut album so badly to come out, and guess what, "Wordless Hope" is finally out to entrance your senses with its sorrowful and emotional melodic doom/death metal.

"Wordless Hope" was recorded with the old line-up of the band (some changes followed in this factor afterwards) which entered the studio to give the album its final form and here it is, powerful and melancholic, ready to accompany many of your sleepless nights. The album opens with a composition named "This Is Who We Are" and what a title! Inborn Suffering show in an exceptional manner who they really are and what they intend to achieve in the near future, placing the traces on which they will step with "Wordless Hope".

When you hold an album on your hands for the first time the first thing to do is to stare at the cover and it usually gives you the first impression of what will follow, well, Inborn Suffering achieved a strong first impression with the surrealistic cover artwork of a faceless shadow walking in an empty narrow street where the only light to shine upon you is the gloomy street-light (a light that covers with brightness and mystery the face of the dark figure) and the houses bring forth a remembrance of the previous century's house models. And then comes the music; and tears flow, intensity rages wild in your heart, your esoterisicm blooms as roses wither all around and you cherish in your very own withered garden the prosperity of barren memories.

Everything seems well-conceived and, above all, so beautifully well-expressed! The strongest part of the album have to be the guitars, they sound so overwhelming, evoking a sense of desolation and mourning in the overburdened atmosphere, being definitely high quality for a doom/death metal work and offering some really creative passages here and there, whether they offer their heavy riffing, acoustic passages or soloing moments. Stephane and Loic definitely poured themselves in the guitar work of "Wordless Hope" and thus the sound of their interpreting will leave wounds bleeding on your frail body! Frederique Simon's grunting vocals (as well as some more clean and heart-rending ones) sound powerful and dark, giving life to the lyrics in the most appropriate and bitter way, lending to the compositions the voice they were longing for to echo in the shadows, whereas the female vocals of Heloise Bernard on "Thorn Of Deceit" offered a more fragile vocal approach on the sound of Inborn Suffering. As for the rhythm section, the drumming is well-expressed, pacing in the common doom/death metal way, keeping the tempo of the compositions and offering some more upbeat passages when it is needed, as for the bass lines, they are a bit in the back of the overall wall of sound, but that's not a big problem really since we're talking about doom/death and it's common in the scene. As for the keyboard/piano melodies, they evoke a devout and hallucinating floating atmosphere, whereas some violin melodies that make their shy appearance here and there make the overall feeling more affected!

As for highlights, i think the album flows definitely as one, the one song comes right after the other to complete the emotions the band wants to present as the album goes on, giving the listener a full view of Inborn Suffering, but if you want some highlights i will present the songs i loved the most! The doleful doom/death metal opus "Monolith" standing above all, the esoteric, melancholic and poetic "Thorn Of Deceit" (with the French spoken word passage), the lachrymose and affected ending theme "The Affliction Corridor", the dark and ominous "Stygian Darkness" and the strong and emotional "The Agony Within" and "As I Close My Eyes" will definitely make you lose yourself in your very own inborn suffering where wounds bleed still.

"Wordless Hope" has to be one of the best melodic doom/death metal releases of 2006 for me and i think all the adorers of melancholic and dark music should purchase this album, enter the "affliction corridor" and feel "the agony within"...


Rating breakdown
Performance: 9
Songwriting: 9
Originality: 8
Production: 8





Written on 23.11.2006 by "It is myself I have never met, whose face is pasted on the underside of my mind."


Comments

Comments: 1   Visited by: 45 users
25.11.2006 - 13:06
Rating: 4
Tony Harrison
I have no arms..
Very nice review! After hearing that Stephane was also in Ningizzia I got their demo ages ago and was looking forward to hearing their debut albu, and luckily I wasn't disappointed. A very mesmerizing piece of work!
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