CELESTIAL SEASON - Forever Scarlet Passion

Remastered from original 1993 studio tapes by James Plotkin in 2020 - New artwork by Jason Kohnen in 2020 - Part of the CELESTIAL SEASON Doom Era box set that also includes the re-issue of Solar Lovers and new album The Secret Teachings. With Forever Scarlet Passion, we see a string-heavy Celestial Season expounding on the bombastic murk of My Dying Bride. Whereas the UK five-piece more or less roped their atmospheric mantras off to certain songs and only those songs, CS wisely disintegrate tracks' borders and stretch the instrument across just about the entire album. For that, we get a less boxy, song-by-song feel and more of a prolonged, harmonious saga of crushing woe that would be more washed out and incomplete if not for Edith Mathot's ever-present bow work and Sylvester Piyel's (the spinner of the 7"'s violin web) occasional keyboard trappings. Without taking kudos away from the five main bodies of the group whose talent of bending rhythms into the shape of teardrops is obvious, I'm willing to admit my glassy-eyed fascination for one weepy neck-held gadget and say it's the belly of this type of recording. Should it leave, this nine-songer would be akin to a less death-minded My Dying Bride or Anathema's more bare bones, but emotive material.