Threads of Fate
The Cold Embrace Of The Light

They are feeling the cold embrace of the light, the band that calls itself Threads of Fate. It isn’t that difficult to figure out that dark themes dominate their music, I read in the press sheet that death is their prevailing theme, done “in a way that sounds both fresh and recognizable at the same time” according to the label. Now this is a label with bands like TDW, Bioplan, Aeon Zen, all artists that have been highly praised by us at Hallowed, they usually release great stuff so there is more reason to believe what the label writes this time – as I think LRP cares a lot of the quality of what they release, something I doubt that all labels do. So, with that hope of quality I can overlook that they haven’t really bothered to do a great cover for this album that happens to be the debut of the band. They have an EP from 2018 also in their discography.

Musically it is a symphonic metal album, it is a bit morose, quiet yet bombastic – very well balanced in that regard. The singer is decent, not brilliant but more than capable of handling the songs. I don’t really care much for the growly parts, as the growls are extremely dull, and I think it is a bit of a shortcut of showing some darker parts. The variation through the album is strong, it has a dynamic and adventurous sound for the most part – it is a bit dark but in a refreshing way. The tempo is mostly quite slow, but it is dynamic so the 47 minutes it plays for feels short enough for the album to remain interesting all the way through.

This is a strong album; death is always a good and entertaining theme that always livens me up. Or something like that. Against the Shores of Le Monde is probably my favourite, but there are several strong pieces on The Cold Embrace of the Light. I could however do away with the growling that I think ruins more than they add, also in the favourite song. Still, I can overlook that flaw and enjoy a collection of good morose songs, that are both quiet and bombastic – a good and fresh sympohonic metal albums, and one of the better I have heard recently.

Clearly this is an album worth checking out, if you like progressive and symphonic metal there is a very high likelihood that you will find this album very appealing. I can wish that they didn’t chose the simple way out by having growls for the darker part, I am sure it could have been done in a much more interesting way – but they show that death is quite an uplifting theme for an album. I think you ought to check out this great album.

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