"Under your Black Wings" reflects What's the Bitter Taste of Sadness is!

"Under your Black Wings" reflects What's the Bitter Taste of Sadness is!

By: Rana Atef 

(Originally published on 22/4/2018 at 2:52 am)

2 Days ago, Egyptian Depressive Black Metal band Frostagrath released its thirteenth studio release "Under your Black Wings" (Single) featuring Sinprophecy's frontedman Sayed Ragai a.k.a Silverback.

It is not the first cooperation between Lord Mist (Frostagrath) and Ragai, as both 

released a song entitled "Existence", featured in Forstagrath's second full length album 

"Extinguishing the Flame of Life" in 2013.

The track is opened with sorrowful tunes of guitar, and if you are Frostagrath follower you will distinguish Lord Mist gloomy guitar sounds style, they are also 

accompanied with grieving atmospheric touches. 

In 00.52, the first verse of the lyrics begins with a really broken spoken style, Ragai's 

spoken is almost as telling a story.  

I think my review will be dedicated more to the lyrics, as the music movements are really connected to each vocal style Ragai used, for example the spoken parts are accompanied with the same style of the intro.

But, when it comes to the high pitches parts, you can touch the rising sounds of the music reflected in guitars, drums, and keys, also you can trace some epic/symphonic sounds within the music.

The style of the lyrics are almost as a monologue or maybe express an inner conversation 

between the one and his fragmented blur thoughts. They mostly reflect a moment when you decide to explore the inner rooms of yourself, and got crashed with inherited, traditional chains which society calls them values. So, the screams, the growling, even the other employed vocal types are as an inner screams of a really broken, hopeless,   frustrated, and tormented soul.One of the parts that made me frozen

Dear dark angel, have mercy on me

Please come and set me free

Dark angel, take me under your black wings

Take my soul to where it belong

Yeah, in 3:47, it seems like a prayer, but it is a song for abhorring the whole world, the 

whole values, and beliefs, just all you can see is darkness. Even, the stereotypical image of the angle is transformed to a dark one due to sadness, and depression.

The music is turned to be a really symphony of Man vs. world, Man vs. Existence, it almost expresses the trail of the Man in "Everyman" play.

Some employed screams made me remember the style of screams in Katatonia's "Without God" especially in 5:35.

In 5:40, you will find that the music is driving you to another direction, you are still involved in the war, but you see that the climax is somehow calmed. You listen to more melodic sounds with the guitars, then impressive keys sounds with clean vocals, which is really surprising to hear clean vocals from Ragai. If you are a big fan of Sinprophecy you will understand will that Ragai is a big fan for Mikko Kotamaki, so you may feel that Ragai's clean vocals style is like Kotamaki.

Maybe you are too far away but you still surrounding me

I still can see you in every single detail

Still can feel you

Then the music takes you to another war, the heaviest war one can be involved in, that's why I think the epic style of the music is the best equivalent for such epic lyrics.

From the ashes of the abandoned souls

The kingdom of rage has been raised

Under the black wings of the fallen angel

Of the fallen angel

To sum up, maybe I am lucky because my review will be the 1^st published one about this epic track, Frostagrath music style is digging more into Depressive/Atmospheric Black Metal, with prominent usage of Keys, and Symphonic touches which I consider it a successful experience and very good musical improvement. The music is harder than to be expressed through words, because it is a whole journey of sounds, signs, pain, agony, suffering should be listened.

  Ragai showed phenomenal vocal styles that we didn't witness with Sinprophecy, it is like that Ragai is re-introducing himself in Black Metal style. Even, the lyrics is so deep, you can't find a line that doesn't express your condition in psychological suffering, or at a single moment of disappointment.

As I said before, any lyricist can't always beat his/her own fears while facing or 

discovering his/her soul, there is always some sort of hinders or dams stopped you to express what is inside, but what is amazed me that Ragai managed to beat his own hinder, blocks and expressed what is deep inside, what is buried in a weary exhausted 

soul. 

Rate: 9.5/10