Your Tomorrow Alone - Ordinary Lives review
| Band: | Your Tomorrow Alone |
| Album: | Ordinary Lives |
| Style: | Progressive doom metal, Gothic metal |
| Release date: | January 16, 2012 |
| A review by: | Milena |
01. Renaissence
02. Praise For Nothing
03. The Essence Of Gloom
04. Guilty
05. Bursting Hope
06. Far From The Sight
07. One Last Breath
08. Agony (Praeludium)
09. In Silence
Rating supplement: If you like elegant releases and don't mind occasionally being sonically dipped into cheese, attend to this immediately.
Say what you want of how the regions and countries of a band's origin have nothing to do with the actual sound of a band, but I still subscribe to the theory. Even if I didn't tell you the gothic/doom(y) act Your Tomorrow Alone hails from Italy, you would have guessed it based on this review alone. Ordinary Lives contains a certain amount of cheese Italian acts are known for, but that is balanced out by warmth and grace that not a lot of bands show.
The band describes their music as "clearly influenced by British Doom/Gothic metal bands like Paradise Lost, Anathema, My Dying Bride", and also claims to have added a 70's prog-ish twist and a "suspended and rarified atmosphere" into their songs. That description is indeed correct for the most part. At first glance, this is quite a standard affair - slow songs, clean and harsh vocals entwine, the focus alternates between the guitars and the keyboards (being slightly more in favor of the guitars), rhythms are slow and for the most part simple, yet energetic. After a spin or two, you'll conclude there's nothing more to hear, but if you've been extra attentive, you'll notice that, despite its simplicity, it has a certain elusive charm that disables you to wrap your head around it fully. That's when you'll decide to try again.
And be rewarded for it, for that's when the subtle progression and gloom kick in. Careful layering and contrasts between the solid, melodic whole and occasional outbursts of angry despair become more enjoyable with each spin. Your Tomorrow Alone could be, if they play their cards right, successors of their countrymen Novembre. True, Novembre are murkier and way more organic - Your Tomorrow Alone is more on the cliché, red-roses-in-the-ruins side of gothic/doom - but both demonstrate a restrained elegance in expressing emotions, which, when contrasted with Your Tomorrow Alone's soaring melodiousness, gives an impression of painful shyness (which warms my little heart!), from which a man only breaks for short periods of time and immediately regrets it afterwards.
The performance is of course top notch (seems like there's not a lot of bands which can't play nowadays!), but what should especially be noted are the interesting vocal parts, performed by two singers, with occasional sung/recited parts in Italian; the clean vocalist Giovanni reminds me of singers such as Kjetil Nordhus (Green Carnation) and Attila Bakos (Taranis) and sometimes even Lars Eikind (Winds, ex-Before The Dawn).
Listening to Ordinary Lives is like having a candlelit dinner in a crumbling castle while violins are playing in the background - you can't help but chuckle a little at the very premise of it, but you'd have to be cynical to resist the charm of it. But, since most metalheads are cynical, proceed with caution.
 | Written on 05.03.2012 by A part of the team since December 2011. 7.0 means the album is good. |
Comments
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Comments: 35
Visited by: 145 users
| Windrider Raureif Posts: 684  |
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| Cynic Metalhead Ambrish Saxena Posts: 7520  |
Candlelight dinners are often happened between us...and in the next dinner...i'll make sure to spin this one while having a great dinner. Damn! Need to order this one.
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| Merchant of Doom Posts: 702  |
Written by Cynic Metalhead on 05.03.2012 at 18:20 Don't! Cheeeeeeeeeeese! And the clean vocals are atrocious, with a heavy Italian accent. Musically not too bad, but that's not near enough.
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| Cynic Metalhead Ambrish Saxena Posts: 7520 |
Written by Merchant of Doom on 05.03.2012 at 18:53 Do you really care about listening Italian accent when you are sitting with your gf having a great dinner?!
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| theFIST Posts: 1073  |
Written by Merchant of Doom on 05.03.2012 at 18:53 i like cheese  i think i"ll make a sandwich soon  but i won"t listen to something like that album........ (damn_it_where_is_the_puke_emoticon_?)
---- http://metalstormmusicianscorner.bandcamp.com Written by Warman on 07.11.2007 at 22:39
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603  |
Written by Merchant of Doom on 05.03.2012 at 18:53 I won't comment on the atrociousness, since that's a matter of taste - the only thing that can put off people there is the sliiiiight nasal approach, and since I pretty much hate nasal singing but love this, I think it's safe - but his accent isn't bad at all. I mean, sure, there's a bit of it, but doesn't come close to an accent like Fabio Lione's, for example, nor I expect of Italians to sing in perfect English really.
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603 |
Written by Windrider on 05.03.2012 at 17:48 Uhhh, yes, I forgot to mention it... it's pretty special, I don't see a lot of album covers like these around.
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| Merchant of Doom Posts: 702 |
Written by Cynic Metalhead on 05.03.2012 at 19:08 yes, if you are Italian... 
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| Merchant of Doom Posts: 702 |
Written by Milena on 05.03.2012 at 21:02 well, yes, no... but at least a bit of decency... he is out of tune, nasal and "singing" in Italienglish...
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603 |
Written by Merchant of Doom on 06.03.2012 at 00:46 Dude, if this is out of tune, I don't know what you're listening to... it's pretty expressive but he's rather conventional in his approach. Not saying everyone should like the dude, you have every reason to say you don't, but he was never out of tune during this album. About the accent, I'm sorry I have to say this, but it's really pure snobbery from your side... I actually study English and I'm one of the best in my class, but I still have a slight accent, and many years will pass before I get completely rid of it. For some people it's just harder... and he's not "twisting" any vocals or putting stress on wrong parts of the diphthongs or anything awfully wrong like that. Since you're Italian, I guess you're more "sensitive" to Italian accent, and hate it more... but do you have a similar "foreign" accent? Yes, surely you do.
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| IronAngel Posts: 4876  |
I heard this album some weeks ago. Not my style of doom, but it was actually pretty well done. Sleek and cheesy, not really heavy, but I liked the melodies better than most gothic metal crap. The clean vocals were also cool, reminded me of some traditional doom more than gothic. Your review is spot on. I wouldn't give it as high a score as you did, but that's because I don't care for roses and dinners in ruins. I'd rather chew on some rotten flesh in a moist cellar with a gasmask on, getting a BJ from a mutilated mannequin while there was a documentary about the Faroe Islands running on the TV in the corner. Or something.
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603 |
Written by IronAngel on 06.03.2012 at 01:09 Mmm, I thought of scoring it lower, but as more time passed, I enjoyed it more, which is quite the opposite of most cheesy stuff I hear so I had to "reward" it. But I kinda had to go with a lot of "disclaimers" in this review because, apart from roses in ruins, the fact that it's not heavy at all might be a big turn off for some. As for the last sentence... well that was disturbing and awesome at the same time
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| strade Posts: 677  |
Good review, Mora. Suits the album well. Luckily (or maybe not?), I was raised on European power metal, so I barely so much as noticed the cheese factor here. I think it's a bit better than the other 6.5s on my list, so I'll probably listen to this again and move it up. 
---- My lo-fi synth project: http://luciddreamer.bandcamp.com
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603 |
Written by strade on 06.03.2012 at 06:21 Well there you have it now to write reviews for some of the rest.
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| Merchant of Doom Posts: 702 |
Written by Milena on 06.03.2012 at 00:50 well, I think he is out of tune, not always, but in some songs he is. His delivery if often "painful" to hear, so his accent. You might be right, though, when you say that I'm probably more susceptible to it because I am Italian. It's not snobbery... some passages, apart from being horrendously cheesy, are pretty embarrassing, to say the least. Having said that, the more death/doom bits with growled vocals are pretty good...
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| Cynic Metalhead Ambrish Saxena Posts: 7520 |
Written by Merchant of Doom on 06.03.2012 at 00:44 Well, unfortunately I'm not an Italian and so do my gf. I was actually using this album as a background prop so that it sooth us to have a perfect evening. Well, I am almost 2 songs through and indeed it's a great sounding...(accent?)...it's lovely.
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| Cynic Metalhead Ambrish Saxena Posts: 7520 |
Written by Milena on 05.03.2012 at 22:11 Are you kidding me??! I've seen many similar artworks(OF BANDS FEATURED NOT ON MS TOO!) from quite a few weeks back and i think it's very normal thing to see. Like, see the Boxcar Willy's band...they gotta same artwork too. Not a unique stuff.
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603 |
Written by Merchant of Doom on 06.03.2012 at 11:11 I just remembered I'm talking to the dude who can't tell a difference between vocals of Entwine and vocals of The Man-Eating Tree
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603 |
Written by Cynic Metalhead on 06.03.2012 at 13:13 Not talking about the tree, just the use of color and the drawing style... I might be mistaken since I don't pay a lot of attention to covers and all.
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| Cynic Metalhead Ambrish Saxena Posts: 7520 |
Written by Milena on 06.03.2012 at 16:15 May be...anyways...really nice review. Need to dig it more in this album.
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| Merchant of Doom Posts: 702 |
Written by Milena on 06.03.2012 at 16:13 lol... I can tell the difference... one is a bit entwined, whilst the other swallowed a tree... it's remarkable how they still sound the same...
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071  |
I listened to it and totally agree with Merchant Of Doom, the vocalist does have an annoying terrible accent and is out of tune from time to time. Okay his accent isn''t as terrible as Klaus Meine''s of Scorpions but still annoying enough.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603 |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 06.03.2012 at 20:02 Duuuuudes. He's Italian. As for being out of tune, you two should really stick to growls... I mean, maaaaaaybe, maaaaaaaaybe sometimes, but not more than any other metal singer out there. I'll play the whole thing again and nitpick like mad because of you two guys, though I probably won't find anything, but the only place Marcel can agree with MoD is on my reviews anyway... some sort of strange cosmic phenomenon.
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071 |
Written by Milena on 06.03.2012 at 20:16 Which is still no excuse to have as bad an accent in his singing as he does. When people sing in English they have much less an accent than wehn they speak it. So I shudder to think what his accent would be when speaking English. Of course he''s not out of tune all the time, but he is on some occasions. I am not saying that other metal singers aren''t out of tune. All I am saying is that MoD was right in that regard. I don''t mind singers to be out of tune from time to tim as long as tehy don''t make the hairs on my back stand up and here it doesn''t make the hairs on my back stand up, but he still otu of tune from time to time. It isn''t even nitpicking, cause I noticed it immediately without even paying close attention.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| Merchant of Doom Posts: 702 |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 06.03.2012 at 20:22 Phew... I thought I was going mad...
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18366  |
Well, I didn't get the accent that much (probably because I have a strong accent myself) but I still did not enjoy the vocals at all, the carrot thing totally put me off... The harsh growls are pretty lame though. It's a shame because the music was quite nice. Also... I disagree, I see nothing interesing about the artwork at all, in fact... I find it fugly.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603 |
Written by X-Ray Rod on 07.03.2012 at 15:15 The carrot thing? The growls are a bit "empty", but I guess those can be fixed easily on the next release.Anyway, as far as the cover goes, different strokes for different folks... I adore this mixed media-ish approach.
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071 |
Written by X-Ray Rod on 07.03.2012 at 15:15 totally agreed. It's just your standard sort of current day artwork. But actually totally fitting the band in that sense.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| Justicelust Posts: 213  |
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306  |
If we're still talking about the cover art... ya, it's pretty generic. I mean, it's a tree with some birds flying around it. Not exactly what I'd consider a masterpiece of contemporary art.
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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