The Foreshadowing 

Days of Nothing

Candlelight Records 2008

Though I have heard Italy's The Foreshadowing be compared to early Paradise Lost I think the most apt comparison is to modern day Katatonia.  Their style is a melancholic mixture of gothic rock and doom metal.  And Marco's vocals are eerily reminiscent of J Renske's somber and plaintive voice but also I hear echoes of My Dying Bride in there as well.  Always dwelling in the depths of sorrow, The Foreshadowing creates moods of anguish but with dismal rays of hope feebly shining through the dark clouds.  The beginning of The Wandering reminds me of middle era Depeche Mode until depressive fields of metallic guitars and tearful melodies come streaming into the forefront.  As a matter of fact, the vocals start to sound uncannily like David Gahan of the aforementioned Depeche Mode.  Last Minute Train begins with bleak clean guitars and Katatonia-esque melodies and slowly drifts forward with sullen riffing.  Perhaps the heaviest and most metallic song on the album is Ladykiller which utilizes thick gothic metal along the lines of Paradise Lost's Icon album.  The title track is tragic and the chorus wavers and pleads but all joy and pleasure has long since vacated the area that these artists inhabit.  Nothing but cold sorrow remains.  The album closes with the unsettling atmosphere of Into the Lips of Earth which is almost like a cross between The Cure and The Church at both of their most stripped-down incarnations.  Days of Nothing presents music that is far from amazing yet there is something that grabs ahold of my attention and brings me through to the album's conclusion.  I see the razor before me and I contemplate ending it all.  If you need something along the lines of modern Katatonia yet want a slightly different blend of sounds then try The Foreshadowing.