Review HIGH PARASITE “Forever We Burn”

Aaron Stainthorpe has been the voice of British doom metal heavyweights My Dying Bride since the early ’90s, and the band’s latest album, “A Mortal Binding”, was released earlier this year.

In late September, Stainthorpe will release a new album, but this time not with the musical mothership. Instead, High Parasite will release their debut album. Actually, High Parasite is a band with music that wraps you in a comfortable blanket of darkness, with every song on this debut album sounding different from My Dying Bride.

Hard riffing, dark melodies and a synth sound help to spread a more gothic vibe that is reminiscent of the 90s sound of bands like Paradise Lost. If you listen to tracks like “Grave Intentions”, the sound of “One Second” and “Draconian Times” echoes back, and this goes further than Paradise Lost guitarist Gregor Mackintosh producing “Forever We Burn”.

The heaviness is always in focus on this album and there are also some slower songs like “Wasn’t Human” which captivates with its melancholic melody line. It is tough if not impossible to resist this dark musical treat.

Also stunning is “Hate Springs Eternal” with the synth part adding a great density to the song. The song is like a black rose that blooms especially when the chorus kicks in. Faster but still driven by a blackened heartbeat is “Parasite” and also “Let It Fail” is a great piece of music that reminds you of some Gothenburg bands like Dark Tranquillity.

“Widowmaker” uses atmospheric synth sounds intensely before the song develops into a real gothic anthem. Catchiness and sadness are the key elements of this great track before “We Break We Die” marks the end of this exciting debut. The closer is certainly more dark pop metal and still adds to the flow of this well done debut album.

Aaron Stainthorpe and Tombs, along with Sam Hill (rhythm guitar), Jonny Hunter (lead guitar) and Dan Brown (drums), have recorded a great debut album that spreads its dusky vibe the first time you listen to the record. It finds the sweet spot between heaviness and synth-pop. “Death pop” is how Stainthorpe describes the music of High Parasite and in a way it sums up these ten blistering songs in a good way. So let’s stick with it and, more importantly, enjoy the musical melancholy that fits perfectly with the upcoming fall feeling.