Band:	Consensus
Album:	Libertatis Clamor
Style:	Gothic metal
Release date:	October 21, 2005
A review by:	Jeff

01. The First Lament
02. Feel Me, Free Me
03. Wonder
04. Twilight Of Consent

After a really promising first Demo, the Belgian act Consensus is back with their new release, "Libertatis Clamor". Always with a dark and atmospheric music, I think that we can say that Consensus plays Doom Metal. SO if you like bands like My Dying Bride, I think that you'll have to check this album and you'll probably have some nice surprises.

So yes, Consensus plays a nice Doom Metal. Their music is really cold and evidently slow, though the different ambiances beside the music are really impressive. When I listen to this CD I have the can feel sadness, depression etc. It's really well done actually and this young band doesn't suffer of any comparisons in the style with the precursor of the music. With clean like Death vocals, but with also a lot of Keyboards and even some melodies produced by a flute. It doesn't sound bad at all, and yes, I cannot deny that it is hard to avoid doing a comparison with a band like My Dying Bride. It's not a clone of course but still there are some influences in the music of Consensus that come from this band, I'm sure of it.

Though even if the CD is good overall, I have two little reproaches to do. First, the production is not so good. I don't talk about the quality of the artworks but about the recording. It's not bad but it's not perfect too, and I hope that the band will have the luck to do something a bit more pure in the future. Also, and it's probably just a matter of taste, I really don't like the sound of the keyboards. The beginning of "Feel Me, Free Me" for example suffers a lot of it. I know that it is just a matter of taste, some people like this kind of synthetic music but it's a bit hard for me to enjoy it, and I would like to see it with a better sound, just to see? But all in all, this is the only bad points of this Demo so as you can understand, it's probably something for you.

"Libertatis Clamor" is a promising album and I'm sure that Consensus will find fans. I know that Doom Metal is underrated, but still I'm sure too that a lot of people can like the music of Consensus so if you want to discover something nice, if you're already a fan of Doom Metal, have a look on this demo and you'll see that this young band is really talented.