Chalice Of Suffering, a band from Minnesota, are the authors of an excellent album of atmospheric funeral doom titled For You I Die; the album has been published first in CD by the Russian GS Productions and now it is reproposed, in the more and more diffused and appreciated cassette format, by the active Portuguese label War Productions. The band led by John McGovern (vocalist who, rather than singing, performs in a semi-recited Mythological Cold Towers style) convinces thanks to a direct and effective approach, focusing on a melodic side very linear but always aimed to capture the attention of the listener, wrapping it with a mood indeed more melancholic than leaden. Chalice Of Suffering, after all, do nothing but assemble with wisdom the main influences of the genre, drawing mostly from the sounds of the nineties (early Anathema and My Dying Bride) and softening them further with a strong atmospheric nature. For You I Die starts off strong, showing immediately its best face with Darkness, a song with beautiful harmonies that the band exploits properly placing several times a solo with great evocative potential, and then continue along this line, perhaps without finding those same cues but always ensuring a high standard, especially in Who Will Cry and Screams Of Silence. Immediately after this last track, a sudden Celtic folk vein appears, with bagpipes dominating the instrumental Cumha Do Mag Shamhrain, and then we get to the incipit of Fallen, where instead the flute introduces a rather rarefied track, marked by the Gaelic recitation of the bagpipes player himself, Kevin Murphy. Void closes an album rich in content and all in all not even too dispersive, despite the hour and a quarter of duration, showing again the most canonical face of death doom, this time taking advantage of the good growl of guest Allen Towne. Chalice Of Suffering can not yet be placed on the same level of the various bands from which they draw inspiration, but they are quietly attested in the status of reality of interest, able to satisfy the palate of fans of these sounds. All in all, it’s appreciable the orthodoxy in the approach to the melodic funeral death doom, net of the mentioned episodes in the Celtic folk matrix (a bit out of context although pleasant) and, being however a new band, we can only welcome this debut album.

2016 – GS Production / Times End Records / War Productions