The time has come to embark - to delve into the heart of despair in search of beauty viewed through a lens of pain - as guided by the tormented souls in Belgium's gothic doom ensemble Fading Bliss. The band's second full-length album "Journeys in Solitude" delivers on the title by taking you on a trip of sorrow and lament traveling through four separate biomes: "Ocean", "Mountain", "A Forest", and "Desert" as the tracks are so named. Under the weight of a tragic atmosphere each song walks slowly, giving you time to absorb everything that's going on here - and there's a lot. Elegant piano melodies, ethereal female vocals, growling male vocals, bursts of slow, calloused metal played in death tones, ominous synthesized strings, impassioned, forlorn guitar leads, and more all come together creating a grand kind of doom that's drowning in woe. As if the band wasn't already doing enough shit right, the third track "A Forest" is indeed an extended cover of the Cure's classic song that brings even more depth and darkness than the original, immediately drawing you in with a haunting essence that never lets up. This album has a refined sense of melancholy that quietly ensnares you in the shadows - there are a few big, swelling moments and a couple of extreme metal blasts but the real power here is in the serene, melodic misery that builds those up. Fading Bliss have definitely captured some beautiful grief here so I recommend checking it out! -Brandon
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