One look at the dark cavenous room with creepy winding staircase that adorns the cover painting to A Fever Which Could Cling to Thee Forever gives you all the indication you need to know about the music contained on the fifth release from Eyes of Ligeia. This is doom through and through, with enough black metal splatterings, especially on the vocals, to keep things interesting. It's that extra dash of black metal that really helps the music of Eyes of Ligeia rise above most of the funeral doom crowd. The production here is not the greatest, as you can hear lots of pops and fuzz throughout (as if it was transferred from an old scratched up LP), but that sort of adds a charm to these epic, doomy tracks. "A Strange and Fitful Presence" is just so damn bleak, with crushing, sludge ridden riffs, plodding drums, and ominous, agonizing vocals, while "The Shadow Out of Time" sees the vocals take on a screechy, almost Nordic feel, with the rest of the instrumentation picking up the pace slighty. Eerie keyboards take the lead on "What the Moon Brings, Part II", a cold and chilling mix of black metal and crushing doom, and "Watcher in the Water" will please any fan of classic Black Sabbath, Trouble, or St. Vitus with its death march dirges. While overall this is commendable stuff, after a few listens many of the songs seem to go in the same direction and sound too similar, which often happens with many bands in the doom genre who like to write epic tunes in the 8-10 minute range, of which there are many here. Ultimately though you have to give Eyes of Ligeia credit for injecting some cool black metal vibe into these otherwise doomy songs, and I think that will warrant enough people to want to check this out.
Track Listing
1. The Stillness Fades 01:19
2. The Shadow Out of Time 08:06
3. A Strange and Fitful Presence 10:34
4. What the Moon Brings, Part II 08:01
5. Watcher in the Water 07:33
6. A Fever Which Would Cling to Thee Forever 08:47
7. As the Ravens Descend from the Tower 04:15
Total playing time 48:35
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