SEASONS OF SORROW – The Awakening

The guitarist from Vancouver of Canada, Jesse Day, formed Seasons Of Sorrow in 1999 in order to materialize his vision of creating a new music genre by drawing influences from Power Metal and Black Metal. For this purpose, he joined forces with the singer Adrian Miles, the drummer Evan Rogerson, and the 17 years old bassist Julian Kenchenten.

As soon as the line-up was solidified, the band, with the almost impossible-to-read logo, played some live shows during 2003 … slowly but steadily gaining the Metal scene’s attention. The next and logical step in the Seasons Of Sorrow’s history was to release a full-length album. Unfortunately, the band entered into the composing/recording process without having the support of a record company.

In the year 2005, the Seasons Of Sorrow company grew after the addition of two musicians: the violinist Tyson MacMillan (who recently left the band) and the Soprano/Alto singer Myah Rogerson. The band was anxious to test the media response to their music, so they released (only 1000 copies in print) a demo CD entitled The Awakening, comprising three songs with an average time duration of 6 minutes.

The galloping rhythm guitars open for “Across Bleeding Seas” with a distinct Epic Metal direction. The harsh vocals bring in the Black Metal influences, while the violin and the soprano female vocals reveal some Folklore elements in the performing style of Cruachan and Waylander.

The next track, “The Forsaken Prophecies,” keeps the snarling and evil vocals that fit perfectly with the fast drum tempo. There are some interesting guitar leads and solos that make a short pass into Progressive Metal territory. The Epic atmosphere is supported with the presence of the guitar-violin duel and the clean vocals, while the dominating presence of the bass guitar helps in creating a compact rhythm section. The Black Metal vocals sound a little bit under-produced, and definitely need additional work in the last track, “Penance In Black,” of this demo. Here the guitar work is again impressive, with cutting edge riffs and an inspired solo. Sometimes, the over-use of the violin distracts the listener from the guitars, which feels a little bit confused.

The release of this demo CD can be characterized as successful, since it managed to present the fresh ideas of the Canadian musical scene. On the other hand, this strange mixture of Black and Epic Metal with the presence of some Folklore elements needs additional work in order to take a compact form without “gaps” or discontinuities that may tire the listener. The MER readers who are interested in this music genre should go and check out the band’s official site and support this freshly formed and unsigned band.