The Fall of Eve - CD Review
Eternal Embrace

CD Info
Self released
10 tracks
English lyrics
2015
9.5/10

I’ve covered bands from a lot of places, some of which you’ve probably never heard of. But, my paternal grandfather is from Scotland, I’ve always considered myself a bit of a Scott. And, I’ve never covered anything from Scotland before. So, this is a review I’ve been waiting a long time to write. And sure, I’m hitting a bit of the Scotch whiskey from the ol’ sod, care of my late Dad, as I’m writing this, which is only appropriate.

I didn’t have a lot of background on the band going into this, but they did play Dames of Darkness last year, a festival I had really anticipated seeing. But, life got in the way and I had only the word of those who did attend to get a report. And, they had good things to say. Well, this release seems to cement those evaluations, this is good stuff. I like to think I’m broadminded in my interpretations of Femme Metal, but, as with anyone, there are things I treasure above all else. For instance, there better be a solid vocal, goes without saying. And, in this genre, it helps to have a bit of symphonic. And metal, well, yea, unless you’re into rap. So, this one pretty much hits all the requirements. And the lyrics, well, we’re a long ways from Country Western. They are especially strong with certain tracks, and, interestingly enough, those may be my favorites, go figure.

Music in this genre tends to be emotional in nature. TFoE seems to have a solid line to this direction, both musically, vocally and lyrically. Vocalist Laura (who goes by the nom de guerre Evangeline) has solid capabilities; musically the sound features most of what we expect in this genre. There is a heavy emphasis on the symphonic, and some of it seems to have that aura of the Scottish Highland. It’s a soaring sound, one that takes us to the many cinematic interpretations of that culture. But, this interpretation is sometimes even darker than what we get from Hollywood. The guitars, the drums, there is that Highland interpretation, the sound we got from Braveheart. But, the lyrical work seems to take that sound to a different place. Beautiful as the music can be, we get interesting twists from the message.

As I mentioned, TFoE seems to be focused on the symphonic. This is killer stuff, good as the other components are. We get guitars in all the right places, the vocals tell tales that take us to the right place, the drums pound in a way that provides a bottom, but the symphonics seem to be the featured sound. And, isn’t that the way a Scotts sound should be. I asked our lovely Scottish lass about that component, she had an interesting response:”Our orchestral and choral sound doesn’t come from keys at all. We have an arranger who scores the orchestral and choral parts via Midi using some really nifty software. We always wanted to avoid a fake orchestra sound with short samples etc so we are really happy to have the set up we have and can just run the tracks live. No real orchestra yet but maybe one day (Thats the dream anyway)!” You get it straight from the first track, Under My Skin. This one is more metal in nature, we get drums and guitars supporting the femme vox, but, at some point the Midi takes over. And this seems to be the focus of this release. You get fine vocals but they’re loaded over the symphonics, which seem to direct the action.

It’s interesting that, with this release, the lyrics seem to get better as the release progresses. Not that they’re bad at the beginning, but, they get darker and more personal as the release progresses. The same can’t be said about the metal, it’s there early on and continues. But, it seems to give way to the symphonic as we progress. At least that’s my interpretation but then, I’ve been doing Scotch whiskey for a while. I enjoyed reading the lyrics, and asked Evangeline about it. Her response was somewhat different from what I had expected, “The lyrical content comes from my own thoughts, feelings and experiences. When I write my lyrics I try to not concentrate too much on a particular event in my life or a particular person because I feel it becomes very obvious to the listener and I want each person who listens to our music to draw their own connection and find their own meaning in the songs. We have had one fan tell us that "Forgotten" reminded him of his grandmother who passed away from Alzheimer's disease and it made him think of the internal struggle she went through losing her memories of her family. Its amazing and sometimes heartbreaking to hear some of the things that our fans connect to our songs but ultimately I want as many people as possible to find meaning in my work.” Interestingly enough, I had the exact experience with some of the lyrics as I suffered a personal loss of some significance during the writing of this article. It really touched an emotional place for me, something I’ll long remember. The lady had another interesting response when I asked her about the music environment in Scotland. I asked why I hadn’t heard any other bands with a similar focus, her response, “Because Scotland is just haggis, tartan, irn-bru, biffy clyro and the SNP! lol Seriously thought Scotland's biggest music genre is Indie Rock, particularly acts that hold onto their accent when they sing. It seems to be popular across the UK at the minute and Scotland is no exception. We know of one other act which is actually male fronted but they are currently on hiatus. Other than those guys, we think we are the only ones north of the border. Its a shame though because when a big act like Within Temptation comes to Glasgow, the queue is round the block to get into the venue.” I can certainly see the interest in the accent, even American bands try to sound Irish on St. Paddy’s Day. Most fail badly.

The release begins with Under My Skin and, unfortunately, there’s no video for this one. Of course, this being a new, and I mean still evolving band, that can be expected. But, the track provides much of what the band is about, strong metal, the solid symphonic, drums and a first rate vocal, without much accent, unfortunately. Geez, if you can sound like a Scott, sound like one. I’ve been trying all my life, especially after a bottle of Scotch. Abandoned, the second track follows the previous direction, with a little more emotion to the vocal.

Some bands can sound good in recording but fall off a little live. That doesn’t seem to be the case here. Sonic Cathedral’s Ton Dekkers wrote highly about the band’s set at Dames of Darkness and I gotta tell you, that top hat and cane are about as original a look as I’ve seen in a while. They demonstrate it in the video for Destiny.

Fall from Paradise goes a little heavier in the direction of the symphonic. But the lyrics sure go in a Gothic direction:

The past is behind me but now I can feel the dark world surround me.

I sense a cold silence descend to engulf me. / Is this the end I have prayed for?

Has judgement day finally come? / Through the valley of death I walk alone.

The Devil Never Sleeps may be the best presentation of the vocal. I found it interesting that the band is still recruiting personnel for live performances. Evangeline talked about the difficulties that presented in producing this release, “. On the release there is myself, our guitarist Michael, Phillip who played drums and bass but also did the orchestral and choral arrangements and also my uncle David who did the lead guitar solos as a favour to his favourite niece ;)”

One more thought on a track that had personal relevance for me. The track is Left Behind. It’s actually a bit of a rocker, but the thoughts expressed, and the delivery used to express them, have seared the track into my mind. We hear:

Lost alone inside a shattered memory of you and I cant take the pain. Photographs and broken mirrors, show me how to make the darkest memories fade.

Don't you hear me anymore? I'm screaming in the dark. Calling out your name.

I can feel my heart breaking again. All alone and in the dark, you left me behind.

This track will forever take me back to a dear friend, now gone, but as beautiful a remembrance as I can imagine.

This is an early release for the band. One can only hope they find the additional personnel to keep things moving forward. This is too good a start to have it go any other way.

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