Maximum Metal Rating Legend

It Will Come - 47 - 2006 - December's Ghost

Track Listing1. Deeper Into Nothing 2. Mute Witness 3. Sickness 4. Bound 5. Storm of Sin 6. Our Place

Despite repeated efforts and any number of blank slate perspectives, something still feels missing from It Will Come’s demo compilation disc. This release of 2005 demo ‘47’ also includes their 2004 debut, ‘Bound’. Considering that the impact of doom metal can sometimes be delayed, I waited for ‘47’ to click, but despite my efforts, that revelation never came (even as the name of the group claimed that it would).

It Will Come are a very new group from Gothenburg, Sweden, playing a self-described ‘slow, heavy, and melancholic’ hybrid of death and doom, though not entirely in the style so recently bandwagoned by the likes of Swallow the Sun, As Daylight Dies, et al. It Will Come, aside from being female-fronted, are also significantly slower and are not so blatantly worshipping at the Katatonia altar.

The most death metal influence on It Will Come comes in the percussive department. Doom drumming is extremely simple almost by definition, alternating between kick, snare, and crash at a soporific pace, but on ‘47’ we hear an array of syncopation, tempo alterations, and even some relatively complicated cymbal work and fills. Mid-paced death metal drumming cut to ¼ the tempo. Unfortunately, although it is an unusual and interesting stylistic choice, its overall impact is to distract from what should be a somber, lulling experience.

It Will Come’s overabundance of energy also comes through in the guitars from time to time, which often sound uncertain of their place in the mix. Sometimes too aggressive, sometimes patronizingly simple, they struggle in finding the balance between the melodies and frameworks that make songs memorable and the dolorous, plodding atmosphere necessary for successful doom.

Vocalist Louise Halldin is the most positive impact on the group, with a timbre more comparable to Agnete Kirkevaag’s (Madder Mortem) than to, say, Tarja (ex-Nightwish)—lilting but not too heavy on the vibrato or volume. Her simple, patient melodies are occasionally stirring, most often passable, but sometimes are nullified by the awkward chord progressions that support her. Doom does not have to always be cut and dry, but in this context the fussy juxtaposition of styles can be poorly managed.

The nitpicking mentioned above sounds so critical because with a genre so grounded in mood and what we ‘feel’, even a small flaw can throw off the entire experience. Realistically, it is just the beginning for this troupe, and they have plenty of time to find their identity. If they are able to wed the ethereality of ‘Bound’ to the hefty weight of ‘47’, look for them down the road to succeed the current frontrunners.



--Etiam 06.07.07



Album cover link: http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/9128/13275mx.jpg
Band link:http://www.itwillcome.se/
Label link:http://www.decembersghost.com/