Veiled Hideousness

Blinded By Faith’s debut EP is a 7-track (9 for the Galy records re-release, but the extra two are just two songs from their first full-length Under An Occult Sun played live) record which is quite interestingly played but in my opinion not much more than a Cradle Of Filth rip-off with some more interesting melodies. I’m glad I found this band out by listening to tracks from Under An Occult Sun and not this.

Starting out with Somber Harbinger, an intro which, once again, seems inspired by Cradle Of Filth’s work (not the last comparison with said band), the album’s first minute and a half might seem like something epic due to this well-played intro. Then comes the opening riff from Behind the Placid Mask of the Starlit Cosmos, which is sadly quite ordinary. However, what I find most deplorable on this EP is the fact that the vocals are purely an imitation of Dani Filth’s special style of vocals. That said I find neither Dani’s singing nor Tommy Demers’ singing to be bad. Actually, Tommy Demers tends to make his vocals sound even better than screamin’ Dani’s.

The title track sounds more interesting, having a more melodic style to it and vocals that sound slightly (very slightly) less “Dani” than the Behind The Mask… An overall much more epic sounding song with guitarists Sébastien and Daniel doing much better than previously. There’s also more variation to be found here than before, with different sounding parts of the song and even a very nice guitar solo at the 5:08 mark.

The next part of the EP is My Burnt Wings, an ordinary track with acceptable playing and more Cradle-imitation vocals (an intro).
Then comes Reptilian Shudders, which is more remarkable than the previous track because here the band manages to pull off a more epic and powerful feeling to it. Vocals extremely well done, this one even made it onto Under An Occult Sun, although rerecorded and sounding very differently: the intro on the EP version lacks the drumming and general heaviness of the rerecorded version’s intro to be releases later, and the entire song has much more speed and power on Under An Occult Sun than the one here. Still an excellent song on the EP but the vocals here are definitely proof (when comparing to the full-length) that, for Blinded By Faith, change is very good.

The final two tracks on this EP are A Slumber In Cobwebs, which is yet another ordinary song that utterly fails to do anything other than simply be there and, finally, Mélania, the outro, which is a beautiful 2-minute symphonic piece named after a girl who is also in the band’s Thank You List in the booklet.

This EP’s an overall good release by a band which I believe has a lot of potential to become very successful musically and be recognized worldwide. However, while it’s essential to a true Blinded By Faith fan I really don’t recommend this as the way to go if you want to get into this band. Under An Occult Sun is much more original (remember the Cradle Of Filth comparisons…) and interesting. Not to mention well produced, as this is the band’s first work and is self-released. Still interesting to have if one likes their later works. This deserves 70% for the quality music but the significant amount of points deducted is due to the lack of originality for the greater part of the EP and for the sometimes lackluster guitar playing and vocals.