Revelations Of Rain - S/T

Well it seems like in the Funeral Death Doom world you have bands like My Dying Bride Swallow The Sun, Mourning Beloveth and you have a million other bands that sound like those bands. Revelations Of Rain are no exception, it is pretty much every cliche of Doom/Death that is possible to imagine; slow riffs, plodding drums, dry growled vocals, and extended moody melodic ideas expressed largely through keyboards. While I thought their first album "Marble Shades Of Despair" was actually pretty good, this album has left me a bit cold. It maybe one of the most generic, middle of the road Doom Metal albums I have ever heard. There is one track where they seem to break with the formula (Winter Grief), where they pick up the pace a little. At least it sounds a little fresh and interesting, the rest of the album they just plod along and the truth is its just so predictable even for Doom Metal. They do try and create the dark brooding atmosphere but most of the time, the riffs and arrangements are just too pedestrian for words. On "I Left Myself Here" and "Empire Of White Light" there is flashes of brilliance but like too often on the album the songs just go nowhere. Its like watching a movie with some great scenes but a terrible story-line, you might sit through just for the good moments but it takes some patience to sit through the whole thing. They even seem to re-create the same melody lines in some songs or at least real close to the same but there is some good points to be made about the album. The mix is crystal clear and the guitar sounds real heavy, yet the album never feels overproduced. While the songs seem like simple compositions on the surface, dig a little deeper you will hear some cool intricacy especially in the bass playing. This is a bit of a let-down after their first album which I thought showed some real promise and potential, on this album however they seem to be struggling for ideas even though they are obliviously good musicians. Maybe the next album will see a return to form but for now this is a real unremarkable effort. 5/10

www.myspace.com/revelationsofrain