Fatal Portrait - An Elusive Instinct Of Lascivia
2000 - Downfall Records
By Philip Whitehouse.
There's no hiding from the fact - if Fatal Portrait sounded any more like 'Dusk And Her Embrace' era Cradle Of Filth, Sony would undoubtably be rubbing it's hands with glee at the prospect of making its coffers swell to the tune of a multi-million pound copyright infringement lawsuit.
The Cantabrian Cradle-bothers have, however, offered up a decent slice of what they term 'Satanic/Vampyric Black Metal'. Instrumentally, it's superb. The riffs are as melodious, scathing and complex as you'll find on any of Dani and co.'s releases, the somewhat theatrical atmosphere of malevolence is present and correct, and the glass-shattering screams are here and accounted for.
Where Fatal Portrait are let down a little is in the production. The album has something of a fuzzy, indistinct quality to it, which can sometimes hide the quieter, melodic riffs behind the remnants of the last piercing screech, and on occasion the keyboards can be lost altogether in a sort of cotton-wool haze of inclarity. This is a shame, since given the benefits of a better production, I have the feeling that the next major studio wanting to snap up a commercially-viable black metal band could do far worse than come knocking on Fatal Portrait's door. Unoriginal they may well be, but that doesn't stop them from putting out a damn good slice of black metal in their own right. Given a better production, and provided they step out from beneath the shadow of their obvious influences, they might just have a shot.
7.5/10
2000 - Downfall Records
By Philip Whitehouse.
There's no hiding from the fact - if Fatal Portrait sounded any more like 'Dusk And Her Embrace' era Cradle Of Filth, Sony would undoubtably be rubbing it's hands with glee at the prospect of making its coffers swell to the tune of a multi-million pound copyright infringement lawsuit.
The Cantabrian Cradle-bothers have, however, offered up a decent slice of what they term 'Satanic/Vampyric Black Metal'. Instrumentally, it's superb. The riffs are as melodious, scathing and complex as you'll find on any of Dani and co.'s releases, the somewhat theatrical atmosphere of malevolence is present and correct, and the glass-shattering screams are here and accounted for.
Where Fatal Portrait are let down a little is in the production. The album has something of a fuzzy, indistinct quality to it, which can sometimes hide the quieter, melodic riffs behind the remnants of the last piercing screech, and on occasion the keyboards can be lost altogether in a sort of cotton-wool haze of inclarity. This is a shame, since given the benefits of a better production, I have the feeling that the next major studio wanting to snap up a commercially-viable black metal band could do far worse than come knocking on Fatal Portrait's door. Unoriginal they may well be, but that doesn't stop them from putting out a damn good slice of black metal in their own right. Given a better production, and provided they step out from beneath the shadow of their obvious influences, they might just have a shot.
7.5/10
