Lucifer's Fate

Now, here is the kind of band that makes me glad to be a metalhead in 2010. Despite the vaguely goth-sounding name, A Tortured Soul play a brand of metal all their own, owing more to modern heavy metal with a touch of melodic death/thrash and some progressive sensibilities. Occasional tremolo riffs bring to mind mild black metal comparisons as well. If you notice the genre tag on their band page, they're listed as "heavy/dark metal", and that's relatively appropriate as A Tortured Soul don't fit squarely into any subgenre. On Lucifer's Fate the band crafts a strong occult atmosphere, sticking largely to minor keys, reminding me somewhat of modern King Diamond at his most imaginative. Production is professional and crisp while maintaining a heavy guitar tone. Tempos and time signatures change fairly frequently, but never in that abrupt tech metal fashion; rather, they go with the flow of the song such that you might miss it if you're not paying attention, like in "Fallen". The songs themselves are varied, with unorthodox opener "Ritual" being an acoustic ballad of sorts, while the title track is a more upbeat riff-focused headbanging number with a great chorus. "Dark Chapel" on the other hand is a slower, more atmospheric piece that brings the comparison to King Diamond home.

The stars of the show here are undoubtedly Rick Black on vocals and Nate Gorenc on lead guitar. Black is one of the best new singers I've heard, nailing not only the technical aspects of his craft but possessing (or possessed by) charisma and character as well, which aren't things you can be taught. He has three major "voices": the first is his gruff baritone, which he uses most often. It's strong and aggressive, reminiscent of Warrel Dane in the early days of Nevermore, before he really shredded his voice. Second is a clean tenor voice which I swear to god is at times a dead ringer for Rob Halford's. Third is a high, piercing falsetto which sounds a lot like King Diamond, however, he uses it much more sparingly than the King. On some songs the falsetto doesn't make an appearance at all, while on others it's central to the vocal melodies ("Rust" for example). There's overlap between those three of course but that should give you a good idea of what we're dealing with. Overall Black's definitely one of my favorite singers to come out of modern metal. Whenever he's singing he's got my full attention, which is good because the vocal melodies tend to be the focus of the songwriting.

Gorenc's lead guitar is no less impressive. He plays those sorts of solos where you're actually looking forward to them once you know the song; very fluid and melodic, with real shredding skills he only occasionally unleashes. Not to belabor the King Diamond comparison, but he reminds me of Andy LaRocque. Eric Gnant on drums is no slouch either, very busy and flashy in a Scott Travis sort of way, with lots of double bass and fills all over the place.

The songs go through a lot of sections, and flow very well. For example, on "Fallen" the vocal melody in the verses keeps gradually moving up the scale and getting more frantic as the protagonist describes an ongoing war between good and evil in his soul; the chorus, rather than being the climax, is instead a release of tension as he falls from grace. Though the songs are all on the longish side and average about six minutes apiece, they never get tiresome. They do nominally have verses and choruses, but there's a lot of other stuff in between. A Tortured Soul clearly spend a lot of time on their songs, as everything is very carefully composed, with deep interplay between the lyrics and music and the instruments themselves. If I had to pick a favorite song it would probably be "Rust". It starts out very quick and driven by falsettos, one of the fastest songs of the album, yet under a sustained high note it suddenly drops to a slow crawl for a surprisingly emotive chorus. Black displays his full vocal prowess here. It also features one of Gorenc's best solos, lengthy and rocking with some serious chops at first but shifting into a slower and melodic harmonized lead as it replaces the first part of the chorus, which Black takes over to great effect.

Lucifer's Fate is a definite improvement over 2007's Kiss of the Thorn, with markedly more ambitious songwriting and overall more successful ideas. That album was good but still had a few clunkers; this one doesn't have a single bad song, and packs an emotional punch that sticks with me long after I put the disc back in its case. It's a little surprising that A Tortured Soul are so tenacious, having releasing three albums in the last five years with very little recognition, and rather than growing discouraged or shedding members like the feathers of a dying parrot, the core members seem unshakably confident in their own style. That confidence comes across clearly in the music. They're already a band to be reckoned with, and if they continue this trend of self-improvement without chasing trends or conducting any ill-advised experiments, they may well finally attract the attention they deserve. I at least will be looking forward to their next album with high hopes, and I'm just egotistical enough to believe that counts for something.