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Fear of God > Within the Veil > Reviews
Fear of God - Within the Veil

The Brooding, Sombre Musings of a Tragic Diva - 95%

bayern, May 12th, 2018

I got this album in 1995 along with “Toxic Voodoo” by a metalhead who insisted that I got introduced to this “amazing band”. I liked both albums, but I found the one reviewed here a particularly addictive listen, a dark introspective, almost pensive if you like, take on the good old thrash that didn’t quite resemble anything else out there at the time. Yes, great things occurred in 1991, the last great year for metal before the downfall, with so many outstanding achievements, but even in such a strong showing this opus stuck out as it wasn’t a visionary technical/progressive metal meisterwerk, neither did it blend the thrash and the death like it became quite popular at the time, again with bouts of infernal intricacy.

So what is it then? Well, atmospheric gothic thrash should describe it well, Dawn Crosby (R.I.P.) and Co. giving gothic a run even before the latter was established as a legitimate genre on the circuit. Whether this was the first such effort on the scene is debatable as Celtic Frost achieved similar morose, poignantly pessimistic atmosphere on “Vanity/Nemesis”, and the nocturnal operatic minimalism of the Brits Warfare’s “Hammer Horror” also bore a closer resemblance, both works releases a year earlier… still, this grand veiled saga sounds more captivating, not dissipating the oppressing mood with more experimental touches the way the Swiss team did, and not luring the listener into a vampiric/zombie/ghost-like trance with odes to all things cinematic horror that was the Warfare way.

What an amazing upgrade this is compared to the naïve enthusiastic speedy barrage heard on the Détente debut, Crosby helped by two of her colleagues from the first stunt, the guitarist Michael Carlino and the bass player Blair Darby. In other words, more than half of the Détente line-up was involved in the creation of this marvel which at first doesn’t sound radically different from the Détente shenanigans once the cutting lashing guitars of “All That Remains” break the listener’s aura followed by Crosby’s dramatic emotional vocals; the balladic breakages on this one accompanied by Crosby’s pacified semi-recitals bode modifications later, and those appear before long spearheaded by the dark semi-balladic roller-coaster “Betrayed” which doesn’t exactly betray anything or anyone, and works very well in league with “Emily”, the other minimalistic anti-climactic shredder both cuts released as a single a few months prior to this album’s release.

Like in the case of the mentioned Celtic Frost opus, we can’t talk about full-fledged thrash here as the gathering darkness and the oppressing atmosphere simply won’t allow a strict genre classification, but the fan would hardly mind carried by the ethereal beauty of the hypnotic doomy, well, thrasher “Red to Grey”, or by the unobtrusive stomping advancements and the sudden speedy surges of “Diseased”, this last one a superb marriage of two contrasting approaches which semi-friendly tussle is soothed by the quasi-balladic variations on “Wasted Time”. Crosby reveals her vocal versatility to the max on the brilliant “Love's Death”, a steam-rolling shredder of the highest order, the diva singing, reciting, semi-whispering, pleading and screaming throughout, leading the show in a manner seldom experienced before or after, calming down later on the doomy romantic “White Door” which mesmerizing tranquillities are smacked down by the angry razor-sharp riffs on “Drift”, a vivid roller-coaster with ripping, but also supremely catchy and playful rhythms this particular formula later extensively applied by 90’s industrial metal acts (Die Krupps, KMFDM, Swamp Terrorists, Skrew, etc.).

Yes, pioneers in not just one way, this valiant batch were looking ahead with this eye-opener that sneaked under most people’s radar back then, again largely due to not belonging to any trendy trajectory. The majority who had checked out this album must have been those from the Détente fanbase, and it’s quite speculative whether they were left delighted or disappointed. I want to believe that most fell in the former camp cause they must have seen the possibilities lurking underneath these dark brooding sounds that could have swung equally as easily in either direction, the aggressive thrashy or the atmospheric doomy that is; and why not straight-ahead into some macabre industrial even... certainly, no one was talking about gothic as a tangible genre yet as it was still largely featured on promising album-titles (Paradise Lost’s sophomore), and not much elsewhere.

Under the lofty circumstances, “Toxic Voodoo” couldn’t have possibly made any bigger waves regardless of its more vociferous angrier, also more doom-laden, aura with even death metal sparingly showing its ugly head on the more aggressive moments. Not exactly a purebred child of the 90’s, this effort lacked the characteristic dark atmospheric lustre of its predecessor, the band not sounding as original and enthusiastic anymore. It was by no means a failure, but apparently without the presence of the other two Détente members, both of them departed earlier, the new Crosby team didn’t possess the requisite skills to keep the proceedings within the veil although the following EP was another worthy showing.

A dark mysterious, veiled saga that had its cult status cemented with Crosby’s untimely passing, the tragic diva having firmly secured her place in the metal pantheon. With this album here her finest contribution to the music world, one could only wonder what could have happened if she had decided to re-visit it one day in all its dark gothic, hypnotizing grandeur… R.I.P.

Know the feeling, the loss of control - 88%

Liquid_Braino, September 24th, 2016
Written based on this version: 1991, Cassette, Warner Bros. Records

I'm just guessing here, but my belief is that Warner Brothers signed this band with the expectation of marketing them as a new Metallica fronted by a hot blonde singer. But while the music wound up being beefy, well produced and not too fast for the casual heavy metal listener at the time, Within the Veil was also practically an impossibility to promote thanks to a number of attributes that rendered this release as such an anomaly for its time. While these characteristics ultimately consigned this release to relative obscurity in the grand scheme of things, it remains a hidden gem in that it portrays a sense of depression from a female mindset unlike anything I've heard within the metal spectrum. It's not an easy listen, but a fascinating one from a psychological perspective.

Being a tough nut to categorize, aspects of their style do fall in line with the tendencies of that era. Numerous thrash acts were slowing down their rhythm sections to the point in which mid-paced tempos became the primary gait, and Within the Veil follows suit by only occasionally lurching into speedy thrash territory, most notably during certain sections of "All That Remains" and "Diseased". Yet the entire release is thoroughly draped within a thick fog of gothic doom and the "thrashy" tendencies are equally matched by haunting dreamscapes that verge on psychedelia featuring glistening clean electric and acoustic guitars, with an exemplary example being the second half of "Drift". Further diversifying the overall experience are the somber balladesque passages and even some groove bangin' such as during "Red to Grey" when shit suddenly gets real and rips into funkified territory. I'm using these words like "sections" and "passages" because a fair portion of these songs drill through numerous stylistic shifts within their four to six minute running time, with some songs bearing angular, jarring switcheroos ("All That Remains"), and others possessing a curved, smoother progression towards pulsating heaviness ("Betrayed"). A couple of numbers, "Emily" and "Love's Death", opt for a more straightforward heavy metal approach, but even these tunes can't escape that layer of gloom which entraps them from complete accessibility. Dawn Crosby was not about to let that happen.

Despite the adventurous and even enigmatic nature of the music, Dawn is without a doubt the principal piece of the puzzle which gives this album its identity. All over the fucking map, she'll angrily shout out her lyrics not unlike her days with her prior band Détente, though a little lower and more mature in pitch, and at other times she'll sing with a low croon, occasionally coming across as borderline sultry. There's a strong sense of emotional exhaustion to her more tempered moments, whether aching with despair or resigned to an almost drugged-out haze, but with underlying fragments of contained rage ready to explode with a schizophrenic urgency. Her sporadic moments of slight "pitchiness" do not deter from her effectiveness as it captures this air of fragility and vulnerability which match the tortured and often deeply personal lyrics in such a way that it's empathetic, but for the most part she's reasonably on point despite the suffering felt within her voice.

"Words can't say the way I feel. Words can't save me."

These opening lines from "Wasted Time", one of the most poignant tracks on this release, indirectly accentuates the crux in what makes Within the Veil such an uneasy and even polarizing listening experience. What I mean by this is that there are layers of Dawn wordlessly vocalizing which permeate through every song, constantly surfacing and submerging as an atmospheric backdrop, not to compliment the main lyric dispensing but to act as an instrument in itself, like an alternative to synth washes. Ranging from "sex on heroin" sighs to despairing cries and harsh wails, her multi-track blankets of moaning simultaneously saturate the entire album with a distinctly feminine aura of gloom and vehement emotional turmoil while adding an extra level of sheer density to the music itself. Unsurprisingly, for someone uninitiated with this album, it can become rather overbearing depending on the listener, and even a fan such as myself can get irritated at times due to the consistent nature of this creepy addition to otherwise quality metal. Still, in a way it works wonders, particularly during songs such as "Betrayed" and "Wasted Time" in which they perfectly augment the lyrics involving a destroyed personal relationship. Truly a woman scorned.

Even with all of these added sheets of vocal tracks, the production is somehow able to accommodate them, letting them resound in the background so as not to overwhelm the music and Dawn's 'main' vocal. In fact, this production is an absolute marvel, crystal clear, excellent mixing and a guitar tone that's fat without sacrificing heavy crunch. I fucking love it. When the fast breaks with double-pedal action roar into play, it's monstrous and exhilarates, and the trippy quiet sections such as those on prominent display within the chilling "White Door" can shimmer like icicles reflecting a sunrise while remaining steeped in eeriness.

Within the Veil remains as Dawn Crosby's most defining personal moment, like a heavy and almost autobiographical document of a woman losing herself both externally and internally, aggravated by betrayal and her encompassing environment. And sadly, she did eventually succumb to her demons, losing her life due to liver failure after years of alcohol abuse in 1996. The album exists as a curiosity as well as a powerful statement, one that Warner Brothers understandably had no idea how to market. Seeing the band perform a gig back in 1991 to a handful of people, I could witness the aggravation seething in Dawn, gradually revealing itself as she threw her mic to the ground and stomped off the stage before the climactic final screams of "Drift", leaving the band to end their set with a lumbering, sparse denouncement befitting their situation. I can't even say that this release was ahead of its time, as I'm not sure what era a metal album bursting with such unusual emotions in regards to the genre belongs. It sure in hell was something else though, that's for sure.

The logical prelude to Dawn Crosby's demise - 90%

Gutterscream, May 3rd, 2011
Written based on this version: 1991, Cassette, Warner Bros. Records

"…cracks revealing ground below, broken and bleeding, every seed, every stone...”

Pleased I was to see indelicate Dawn Crosby had finally put something together after her short-lived pact with Metal Blade and Détente. With nearly six years under the dam and two untouched demos after Recognize No Authority, Dawn could’ve easily drawn tired of dangling from the noose of underground metal, perhaps content growing a family in the flowery suburbs of the Golden State, PTA meetings and the whole nine yards, but as it turned out, she stole quietly through time to approach the frontier again- renewed, sunken-eyed, and masked by Within the Veil’s unexpectedly clear and sullen darkness– its biblically-strewn fold-out j-card (in cassette form) propping a coolly sinister name, lyrics poetically refined yet ominous, and a capable backbone of Détente guitarist and bassist Michael Carlino and Blair Darby, yet leering over this like a mottled vulture were the words “Warner Brothers Records”. With that, optimism nearly deflated like a punctured lung.

But low and behold, Within the Veil is a surprise on all fronts, a bolt from a blue sky that has thunderstormed to dishwater gray. A pretty far cut from her former band’s thrashed-out cloth, the Late One reveals to us the remote dungeon of her mind, the obscure universe she’s been dwelling in. Much of Détente’s vehemence is swallowed by a melancholy and despair that seems to have not only increased over time, but evolved, yet these elements probably didn’t see life on the band’s pair of post-debut demos even though, of the collective six tracks on them, five are featured here. To put it candidly, this project is a watery grave; cheerless and tragic yet rapt with a human factor that smells of psychiatric sweat, trench foot affliction, and experiences most disturbed. Gothic in mystery more than style, yet it’s doomed in gothic drear and tragedy rather than punishing backflow. Crosby’s vox is a malefactor to all of it, her vocals congested with chaos yet moan with almost pain-induced passion, often twined like a victim of possession, sometimes careening in from all directions as if heaved from a tornado and into a rhythm section. She is the dominant species here.

The songwriting is a lesson in aural cinematography as hardly anything is straightforward, routine, or fashionable. While brief flashes of speed remain in “Drift”, “Diseased”, “Wasted Time”, and opener “All That Remains” in particular, they tend to be more like fits of violence within a schizophrenic mind. Shady, ethereal moments clarify what the band isn’t doing this time around as moods shift like arctic plates. “Drift” strays to the brink of madness and back, at the end crying for a dawn that never seems to come. “Betrayed”, “Wasted Time”, and “Red to Grey” drift from the subtle to the serrated in bi-polar flux, scattered like cobwebs helpless in the wind. Lyrics strafe love and death, depression, and dementia, carried on a blizzard of somber notes that can rise to hysteria within seconds.

Fear of God’s journey of sound from debut to sophomore offering brings to mind other albums that have followed a similar path, like Sanctuary’s Refuge Denied and Into the Mirror Black and Celtic Frost’s To Mega Therion and Into the Pandemonium, and like these metamorphoses, witnessing this lp being written would’ve been interesting; seeing it transcend from ’87 undivided thrash to ’90 surrealism that at the time barely appeared in underground metal, then discovering what stuck, what slid off, and what was invented to conjure this nine-tracker’s dank rhapsody.

With a bird’s eye view of this radical contrast, there’s no confusing Détente with Fear of God. Within the Veil is entirely its own creation, far away from Recognize No Authority as well as ‘94’s much more unvarnished bully Toxic Voodoo, and should be treated so.

“…do you ever think about the otherside?”

what lurks Within the Veil.... - 95%

Mathyula, March 20th, 2008

When I first heard of this band in 1991, I was compelled to seek out and purchase this album, as it was described as something that was assuredly true; different, disturbing, and heavy as hell. The focal point was the vocalist, the now deceased Dawn Crosby. I find it sadly unfortunate that she was missed by today's generation of female-fronted-metal enthusiasts, as she was doing things with her vocals that many of today's front-woman won't dare even attempt. Dawn Crosby could sing, yes, but she could do everything else and did it quite well and quite often. Dawn was truly haunted and let it all through in her vocal stylings.

The music on the album carries Dawn's vocals perfectly. All at once driving and determined yet at times lulling into valleys of sparse desolation and suddenly returning into a nuerotic war path. Dawn was brimming with wrath, and the music was the vehicle to bring her to the edge and back. An opening acapella bit of poetry preludes the first song; "All That Remains" and she seems to immediately stab you in the face with a simultaneous strike of metal and pained vocals that take you no time at all to realize that she's being entirely sincere with her stance on human decay in all of its decrepit forms. She's got the seven deadly sins covered, and then some.

Aside from the several in-your-face metal songs, there are in fact one or two slower styles here, one being a melancholic ballad of sorts, "Wasted Time", which won't add any semblance of sunshine to your day. And then there's what I consider the stand out track of the album; "White Door". Clearly, they were going for something different here, as they brought the tempo down and out into a rather spooky doom territory, and again, Dawn's vocals deliver. Maybe it's their representation of a descent into a dark, cold version of Hell....

All in all, I wished this album had gotten more exposure, as I think it's a classic in terms of femme-fronted metal. Dawn Crosby was doing it way before the sterile Amy Lee cookie cutters started popping up. Still, as Dawn's vocals gave any indication that she was troubled....she went to the well too many times and died from it five years after this album's release.