Band:	The Foreshadowing
Album:	Oionos
Style:	Doom metal, Gothic metal
Release date:	April 02, 2010
Guest review by:	ravendeath

01. The Dawning
02. Outsiders
03. Oionos
04. Fallen Reign
05. Soliloquium
06. Lost Humanity
07. Survivors Sleep
08. Chant Of Widows
09. Hope She's In The Water
10. Russians [Sting cover]
11. Revelation 3:11

It has been almost three years since these Italians released their amazing debut album full of sorrow and depression, Days Of Nothing. It was an amazing piece of art, but difficult to seize in it's plenitude, as you had to be in a very special feeling to absorb it, but when you succeeded, you knew that it was worth. In the meantime they also changed their record label, joining Cyclone Empire records. Like the first album, it's almost the same this time with Oionos, but done even better. It's no surprise that the music is so depressive as some members come from known Italian bands Klimt 1918 and How Like A Winter, but this formation is certainly some steps above their former projects.

The world of The Foreshadowing is a post-apocalyptic desert land, where only few survivors still roam. "Here we are soldiers of fortune and glory/Saw the earth breaking in two/Wondering what could we get from this half life/Will we damn the days we set in our way?" . Yes, the lyrics are all about disappointment and sorrow, and very well done. It's obvious that there was a lot of effort put in that and are not there just to be, but to be read and to think about the message in them. The music is very elaborate gothic doom metal, more doom than gothic, to be precise, with beautiful melancholic melodies, slow to mid fast tempo, strong, heavy and often melodic guitar riffs and ponderous rhythm section with amazing passages. They always keep the right dose of heaviness in their drive, never going too extreme and never too sweet. In a way it reminds me to the glorious days of the British gothic doom giants from 90's like Paradise Lost, with deep emotions that can compete even with Anathemas Judgement or similar acts, but done in a different way. Just listen to the opener "The Dawning" and you'll know what I'm writing about.

The most impressive aspect are Marco Beneventos' vocals, which have improved a great deal since Days Of Nothing. The vocal lines are even more theatrical, deep and emotional this time, sometimes he reminds me to a mixture between Fernando Ribeiro (singing clearly) from Moonspell and Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode, never becoming boring and even the piano based melancholic ballad "Survivors Sleep" turns out great. The second most noticeable thing is the drumming. Johan Padella is not too technical or at least here it's no necessity for this, but his drumming fits perfectly, sometimes even dominating in song structures and always keeping the heaviness to the composition. And least but not last here are the keyboards. Always in the background, but producing some kind of special gloomy gothic feeling, the right example should be "Chant Of Widows", song about loss of the loved ones in the war "Out in the garden, sleeping, pleading/Behind the doorway, begging, starving/Around the corner mourners, murders/We're just survivors in the city".

Oionos contains also one of the best cover songs I have ever heard. Sting's "Russians" is done superbly and it's not used just like a filler, but it fits perfectly in the idea of the album (not like in the case where the same song is used by Leaves' Eyes on their last effort). In the ninth song "Hope. She's In The Water" you can hear Roosevelt's speech from his declaration of war after the attack on the Pearl Harbor and in the last one "Revelation 3:11" Oppenheimers famous speech from 1965 about post-atomic world: "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds".

All in all The Foreshadowing did a great job with this album. My expectations after brilliant debut were more than fulfilled this time. Everything is done without mistakes, also the production is crystal clear so you can fully enjoy every instrument. Seth Siro Moonspell, Paradise Lost, Flowing Tears,... is responsible for the great cover painting (well, he never disappoints...). It's difficult to point out the best songs, because album works like a whole, not like a concept album as you may think, but as I said before, an integrity with a very clear message. I hope that this album won't be unnoticeable by metal and goth fans. So it's up to you..., get comfortable, fill the glass with your favourite red wine, light some candles and... get drowned by Oionos