Band:	Raventale
Album:	Mortal Aspirations
Style:	Atmospheric black metal, Doom metal
Release date:	November 20, 2009
Guest review by:	SSM

01. The Fall Of The Mortal Aspirations
02. Cosmos Inside
03. My Birds Of Misfortune
04. A Fading Scent Of Cinnamon And Naked
05. Watching A Luna Becomes Thy Face
06. The Silhouette Of Despair
07. Escape To The Stars
08. Suicide As The Destined End
09. A Ravens Fade

As we all know, "repetition" is a significant element of music. No repetition, no joy. And now Mortal Aspirations, Raventale's 3rd studio album is here to double check repetition's role in music. The solid guitar riffs and keyboard chords are repeated several times in each song to completely guide the listener and let him\her feel the heat. For instance, the depressive outro of "The Fall Of The Mortal Aspirations" is repeated 4 times. Repetition is somehow Raventale's signature on this album.

The other considerable musical element on Mortal Aspirations is sudden change. In almost every song, where the listener felt lost in deep sorrow, suddenly there's a big hit and usually a loud scream... and we're on our way back to the familiar blast beat (which was repeated 4 times before) or intro riff or second verse. These sudden changes are absolutely needed to prevent repeat, repeat, repeat... style and will pump the blood in your veins to be patient in the depressive outro and its 4 repeats.

Vocals! They are not that aggressive and harsh to ruin the smooth atmosphere in most of the songs, but when necessary it progressed to what we called aggressive vocals and they have their own resonance on Mortal Aspirations. Anyway, this album is not dedicated to vocals and lyrics, but they have an important role in order to complete Raventale's music.

Although it's amazing that all of these instruments are played by just one person, the point is when one person composes the songs and records all the instruments alone, he\she actually could do whatever he\she wants and the result will be more personal than doing it with a band with 4 or 5 members. I mean the result could have been even accurate when doing it alone; more close to what the composer wants.

In the end, Mortal Aspirations is an emotional album which completely depends on the composers mood I think and it's there just to express the composer feelings and thoughts. It contains a lot of profound/unique moments which I'll never forget.

Album Highlights: My Birds Of Misfortune; The Fall Of The Mortal Aspirations; The Silhouette Of Despair.