Originally posted May 7, 2009
at Voodoo Wagon
Fear Of God - Within The Veil (1991)
Studio Recordings @320
Discontinued & Out of Print
An unheralded classic (9.5 of 10)
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 neurotic 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....
One of the most powerful CD's I have ever listened to. The music is deep, heavy and textured, one could easily slip through a crack and get lost.
On December 15 1996, Dawn Crosby, to many the soul of Fear of God, dies of acute liver failure due to years of excessive alcohol abuse. It is the unfortunate culmination of a downward spiral that started back in the Battery Studios in London, early 1992. The remaining musicians continue for several more years under the FOG monicker.
Fear of God - Within the Veil Lyrics
Track List
1. All That Remains
2. Betrayed
3. Emily
4. Red to Grey
5. Diseased
6. Wasted Time
7. Love's Death
8. White Door
9. Drift
Emily:
Nocturnal shades of blue dance before her eyes,
and call to me pleading please don't lie.
In her darkest hour
Emily knows
the fate of whores....
who lie down...
and swear the sacred words.
Love was just something I did to survive
Love was just something I did to you to get by.
Like a circus clown with her painted frown.
Sun going down and the long night begins.
Harvest
Where will you run to now?
You've betrayed all who cared.
Harvest.
Chorus.
It never changes,
it goes round,
and round
round.
you've got the need I got you suck me or you rot.....
>!<