FOREVER AUTUMN

Gothic metal's Lake of Tears began to steer their sound in a more mellow direction here, setting the groundwork for the more progressive direction their work would take in future. The arrival of Christian Saarinen on keyboards allows them to expand their sound and go for a blend of gothic metal and neo-Floydian material of the sort Anathema like to play, though I find this a richer and more interesting prospect than Anathema themselves usually are. Pleasant stuff, though a few of the songs do tend to be a little anonymous and forgettable and a little more variation in the sound might have helped make the album more distinctive.