Royal Anguish - Tales of Sullen Eyes EP

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Forest: Sold Out
Jul 5, 2003
5,154
13
38
40
Indiana
Royal Anguish – Tales of Sullen Eyes EP
Self-released – December 2004
By Jason Jordan

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I’ll give you a few seconds to think about where you heard of Royal Anguish. Did you get it right? I mean, I have no idea because I can’t actually hear you. Anyway, the group just recently acquired a forum here at UltimateMetal! Their latest recording, entitled Tales of Sullen Eyes EP, has the potential to win over throngs of people, and I suggest digging it up.

If I had to create one of those comparisons (Band A sounds like Band B and Band C copulating in a grimy, abandoned warehouse, while Band D looks on with mild interest), I’d say Royal Anguish can be likened, musically, to Cradle of Filth and, vocally, to Novembers Doom. However, don’t let the former band scare you away, because Tales of Sullen Eyes EP is much more credible. The EP contains five tracks, clocks in at twenty minutes, and is host to a variety of delectable qualities. For instance, Katy Decker provides the listener with superb, clean vocals and – as I mentioned earlier – Matt Knowles seemingly studied at the Paul Kuhr (Novembers Doom) school of vox, though Knowles is less intelligible than Kuhr. As far as instrumentation goes, keyboards riddle the EP in addition to virtuoso guitar playing. And several of the guitar leads, provided by Kozlowski, just slay. The drumming is excellent – especially for such an underground recording – and the production leaves nothing to be desired, which is incredibly rare. “Twisted Angel” is the leadoff hitter, and is a fairly solid representation of what Tales of Sullen Eyes EP sounds like as a whole. The aforementioned is available for download, so check that out if your interest has been piqued.

Royal Anguish have a couple full-lengths behind them, though this EP I’ll venture to say is most likely their best work to date. These Floridian guys + girl just finalized a deal with Fear Dark Records, and that means this opus will be re-released in Europe. So, once it hits, saunter down to your local Internet café and order it. I won’t have to do that, though, because I’m one of the few people that has the Internet at home. Broadband. Yeah, I’m awesome.

8.5/10

UltimateMetal's Interview with Royal Anguish
Official Royal Anguish Forum
Official Royal Anguish Website
Official Fear Dark Records Website