DESCRIPTION:
Lycanthia - Despondency in Crescendo
From the album: "Oligarchy"
Track 5

Order CD (Digipack): http://www.hypnoticdirgerecords.com/hypnotic-dirge-webstore.php#!/~/product/category=6794198&id=28958016

Digital [Name-your-price]: http://hypnoticdirgerecords.bandcamp.com/album/oligarchy

Formed in 1996, Lycanthia carries with them a history spanning 17 years and are one of Australia's oldest surviving doom metal bands. A six piece band hailing from Sydney, Lycanthia plays traditional gothic death-doom metal with a strong emphasis on atmosphere, melody, and the captivating use of alternating male growls and female soprano vocals. Comparisons could be drawn between Lycanthia and the sound found in the early "golden age" works of classic gothic doom bands such as My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost, Draconian, and Theatre of Tragedy. A flagship of this particular sound is the contrast between dark, aggressive, and heavy death-doom and softer moments courtesy of female vocals, keyboards, and violin arrangements and Lycanthia does this extraordinarily well. The growls courtesy of founding member and bassist Lee Tassaker is a definite strong point of the album, and contrasts nicely with the poignant female vocals from violinist and keyboardists, Vanessa Black, and Megan Tassaker. The vocal work is complimented nicely by six very competent musicians all working towards a heavy, despairing, and powerfully melancholic sound and a production quality that does the songwriting justice. Mastered by Jens Bogren at Fascination Street Studios (Opeth, Katatonia), the re-release of Oligarchy on Hypnotic Dirge comes in a digipack format with an 8 page foldout booklet.

Lycanthia profile: http://www.hypnoticdirgerecords.com/lycanthia-main.php

Lyrics:
Hope flickers, dying on the horizon
And felicity renders into oblivion
A fantasy...

Frozen in time
A prisoner inside my own self
Locked within the walls of my own disgrace

Tearslinger under my skin
A fusion of pride and fear
A blend of serenity and resentment

The want to flee consumes me
The urge to succumb eats its way
Through a brawn, weakened by seclusion

In my utter gloom, I glance death
My seductress, my enchantress
I felt life closing in on me
Smothering, suffocating me

'Tis unfeasible to escape the bitterness of life
I felt life closing in on me
And I tasted death with delight

Ne'er will I dwell...