Review by Alex on November 30, 2019.

Formed in 1993, the Gothic doom metal band Beautiful Darkness has only put out 2 full length records up to now with their latest being Where the Moonlight is my Sun. Handsomely Gothic doom metal with folk, death metal and progressive elements poured into a bottle of already well aged wine. If you need some tracks to play as you stare towards the twilight ocean reminiscing then this is just the beverage for you.

Where the Moonlight is my Sun is Beautiful Darkness' first record since the band's underground acclaimed 1999's Mindless You Sleep. Just like the cover artwork the music here is primarily mellow (apart from a few tracks) and has a dreamlike atmosphere accompanied with heartache. It’s not overly depressing but you can identify the melancholic contrast in tones occurring on each entry. 'Winds' is grounded in a sort of Gothic progressive rock instrumentation mixed light/clean vocals.

When proceeding downwards to 'Behind the Gates', 'Now You are Missing Me' and 'Enjoy with Me This Sadness', you will find the tempo and flow of the songs become less heavy and slower, more melancholic and structurally improved. I say that because the opener 'Winds' sounded a bit unsure of the direction it wanted to pursue, the vocals were saying one thing while the instrumentation was implying another, it seemed like a strange tug of war between prog rock and Gothic doom. No real harm done there as it still turned out to be one of the favorites, but it did appear confusing on first listen.

Thus said, the songs following 'Winds' are decent enough for repeated listens however the real fun (for me) begins with 'Back From the Dead', a live recording of some sort that caught me off guard, and being the old school death/doom fanatic I am, I spent considerably more time on the latter portion of Where the Darkness is My Sun after discovering 'Darkness' and 'Sleep for Ever' also sound like traditional death/doom goodness. All three songs are fantastic, but 'Sleep For Ever' in particular reminds me much of Astaroth's (USA) 1992 and 1993 demos "Drown in Blood" and "Lost State of Dreams". This complete flashback to the early days of the genre was a thrill to hear.

Coming to a close with 'Dreaming’, the album diverts to its more current era and puts on their best performance among the songs featuring their modern and mature style. The music on Where the Moonlight is My Sun has its peaking moments on 'Winds' and 'Dreaming' with regards to their Gothic prog metal sound. While the traditional death/doom highlights are on 'Darkness' and 'Sleep for Ever'. Overall the album is well coordinated and sounds of a true team effort result of the humble tone on most songs. Ralf Vent, Miodrag Stefanovic, Christopher Laschetmade and Ingo Lögers made best of their return in dedicating the album to their fallen comrade Uwe Heepen.

You really would not believe it’s a 45-minute album, given a few minutes it can absorb you for hours. I think there is a remaster of Dark Eden (their first demo) planned for some time in the future, hence if you enjoyed what you heard on this album it would be in your best interest to keep watch for its release. I would really like if the band continued onward with either their old school death/doom metal ways, or even their current approach, either way, you could think of yourself a winner if managing to acquire any of their work on physical media. Where the Moonlight is My Sun is an immutable album, one that plays to the tune of past and present brill.

Rating: 8.4 out of 10

Review by Jack on May 27, 2003.

Formed at the end of 2001, Papercut Homicide is an outfit comprised of members from Red Sky, Fire @ Zero Gravity, Nemo and The Creature. The press statement released by Retribute Records lists Papercut Homicide as an 'incredibly effective mix of grind, death metal, hardcore, jazz and rock.' "From Filth Comes Grace" is the sort of record that will simply appeal to a wide variety of people, from all walks of the more extreme music life.

Each of the sixteen tracks from "From Filth Comes Grace" sufficiently mixes it up with interesting guitar breaks, alternating vocal styles, and huge variations in tempo. 'A Will to Arson' for instance is possibly the slowest moving and is one of the more somber tracks from "From Filth Comes Grace," but is complete with amusing lyrics, and a rather grim atmosphere. Skip to track fourteen, 'The Thread,' and you are greeted with a far more furious opening riff, insane drumming and doppelganger-like vocals from Jon Burdick. Which brings me to one of the strongest points of "From Filth Comes Grace" – the drumming, its absolutely brilliant, and possibly one of the most consistently interesting performances I have heard for some time. Due to the large variety of styles incorporated by Papercut Homicide (think elements of Killswitch Engage, Dillinger Escape Plan, Pig Destroyer and Eyehategod), you were probably going to assume that each instrument would certainly play a more than standard role. This is certainly true of Phil Hogan who seems to certainly know his way around all extreme music fields and shows enough flair to warrant some extra listening.

Bottom Line: A really diverse, and more importantly, attention-capturing first effort from Papercut Homicide. Combining diversity, easy-going lyrics and songs that don't outlast their welcome makes this a winner in my books. "From Filth Comes Grace" is certainly deserving of an inspection.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 6
Originality: 7.5
Overall: 7

Rating: 7.1 out of 10