Band:	Faal
Album:	Abhorrence - Salvation
Style:	Black metal, Doom metal
Release date:	October 2008

01. 00:00
02. In My Final Hour Of Grief
03. The Scent Of Withered Flowers
04. Perpetual Solitude

Faal, 'fail' in English, are a young Dutch band with potential. With only three gigs behind their name they already made a name for themselves in the Dutch doom scene, at least big enough to get invited as opening act for the renowned Dutch Doom Days festival. And it just happened to be that I was there, witnessing the performance, and I was completely blown away by it.

In an attempt to recapture that great experience, I bought their début album "Abhorrence / Salvation", released by the German label Ván Records. It was originally intended to be a demo, which unfortunately becomes apparent in the slightly inferior production, but then again this is no genre for crystal clean productions, so who cares? It still easily has much more atmosphere and quality than many contemporary doom albums.

Faal play a mix of Black and Doom, with some Post-Rock influences in their sound. Opener "00:00" is the shortest song of the quartet, clocking in just over the seven and a half minutes, and it is a dirge of beautifully weaved melodies, dark riffs and spoken weeps and hellishly uttered growls. The three following songs contain the same ingredients, but Faal mixes them into four varying and adventurous songs. The spacey and carefully constructed songs could have been a hurricane with a proper production, but they are downgraded to a mere storm by the muffled production. Still, a storm is too something you should watch out for and at some points during the album the production even adds a little charm.

Blending the vibes of Deinonychus, My Dying Bride with synth and guitar beauty, and throwing that all into a pitch-black, hallow chamber of torture, they just hit the spot. "Abhorrence / Salvation" is a great release of a band of which I'm sure can still do much better. I'm not expert on my own countries' scene, but if I were to hand out the award for the "Most Promising Metal Band In Recent Years", it would without doubt go to Faal. Seriously, if you're a fan of Doom, do not miss out on these guys. Oh, and when they play anywhere near you, do anything it takes to be there.