Damnation Angels -'Fiber Of Our Being' Released 31 July 2020, Rock N Growl Promotion

Symphonic metal has to be European and female fronted right? Well, no actually; coming at you straight outta Doncaster (via Argentina) is a fantastic new album from Damnation Angels that you really need to listen to.

If you don’t know the band then You Tube might be the place to start. There’s a lyric video for the opening track, “More Than Human”, which highlights the subtle orchestrations, dynamic melodies and intelligent lyrics that characterise the band’s work. It will also get you acquainted with the excellent album art-work by Sabercore23art.

“A Sum of Our Parts” is the band’s first ever actual music video and it is absolutely stunning. Fragile and ethereal vocals from Lauren Francis introduce both the song and the story line. The video intersperses band footage into a slow-burning, atmospheric and evocative drama. It’s a hypnotic track which gradually builds momentum before a jaw-dropping musical and visual denouement. As well as the band, top marks must go to Sitcom Soldiers and actress Helen Pawson for their efforts in making the movie a sub-five minute classic.

The title track is another ambitious affair, full of power and variety. There’s a key change just before the four minute mark that really highlights the quality of ‘new’ singer Ignacio ‘Iggy’ Rodriguez. You will normally find Iggy delivering powerful Spanish language vocals for the Argentine band ‘Azeroth’ and he fits in beautifully here. He and Nic Southwood on Bass are the main changes since the band’s second album was released five years ago, joining Drummer John Graney and his brother Will Graney, who takes care of orchestration, guitars and song-writing.

I mentioned the intelligence of the lyrics and Will delivers another cerebral masterpiece on “Fractured Amygdala” - it’s the part of the brain involved with the experiencing of emotions, particularly fear. There’s a prog-metal feel to this one, particularly in the powerful but tasteful drumming. That vibe continues with more power and precision in the following track “Greed and Extinction”.

The prog-metal quotient goes stellar on the 13 minute epic “Remnant of a Dying Star” which really gives the band the space to show off their musical chops and allows Graney to reach for the stars thematically. There is a highly evocative Holstian orchestral segment in the middle of this elaborate and powerful symphony and the performances are universally excellent throughout.

There’s a lot of light and shade on display. The haunting (literally) “Our Last Light” is beautifully melancholic and features a sensitively delivered vocal from Iggy which he follows up with a muscular performance on the powerful track “Rewrite the Future”. His is a bravura performance on this record and he’s a very welcome discovery for UK fans.

Obviously the spelling of ‘fiber’ in the title is not the same as on my box of Kellogg’s Fruit & Fibre. I guess the band have set their sights beyond South Yorkshire but if you fancy a musical stay-cation then you can do a lot worse than shop local on this one. Bravo.