While Heaven Wept – Suspended at Aphelion
Release Date: November 18, 2014
Record Label: Nuclear Blast
Suspended at Aphelion opens with an absolutely gorgeous classical guitar piece called “Introspectus” which totally had my full attention. Just as I was getting settled into this piece, “Icarus and I/Ardor” just came out of nowhere and totally slamming my face. Right out of the gates, the vocals of lead singer Rain Irving matched with gorgeous harmonies of keyboardist Michelle Schrotz gave me goosebumps while sending a chill up my spine. This song was the absolute highlight of the album and it really showcases the subtle yet raw perfection of Rain Irving and Michelle Schrotz’s voices. I’d love to hear these two do a duo album someday as the pairing of those voices just may be one of my favorites.
“Heartburst” is this dark, haunting ballad that reminds me of what something would sound like if Dennis De Young listened to progressive doom metal. I found this particular song to be good but it just did very little for me. The suite of “The Memory of Bleeding/Souls in Permafrost/Searching the Stars” had all the potential to be an epic but it just seemed to lack the ability to hold my attention and really move me. The instrumental “Indifference Turned Paralysis” just kind of sounded like a prog metal Vegas intermission break. To me, that song was just a flexing of musical muscles that I found to be more self-indulgent than actually entertaining. Yeah, I get it guys. Y’all can play your asses off but I want to hear songs. I want to hear melody and I want to hear something of substance as opposed to something that’s just filling up space.
For as big a deal that Suspended at Aphelion was made out to be, I just don’t feel that this album lived up to the hype. Don’t get me wrong. It doesn’t suck. Matter of fact, the album is very much listenable but in all honesty I just feel like I didn’t feel that connection. I almost felt like they were playing “at” me as opposed to or for me. I personally found “Fear of Infinity” to be a truly great album that I felt encapsulated everything that I love about While Heaven Wept and I really felt a personal connection to that album. With Suspended at Aphelion, I felt like they were trying for something that they just weren’t able to make happen.