CHALICE An Illusion To The Temporary Real CD (2001)

There is a very short list of Australian gothic doom metal albums that belong in the same conversation as the European greats, and An Illusion to the Temporary Real is on it, full stop.

Chalice came out of Melbourne with something that felt genuinely earned rather than borrowed. Sharon Rider's vocals move between devastation and control across arrangements that take their time and mean every second of it. The dark aesthetic here isn't costumed, it's structural, built into the way the record breathes and collapses. For anyone who came to this sound through Tristania or Trail of Tears and never thought to look closer to home, this is the corrective. Australian gothic metal at its peak, from a band that deserved far more noise than they got.

Format: Full Length CD. Year: 2001. Origin: Australia. Genre: Gothic/Doom Metal.

Fans of: Sins of Thy Beloved, Trail of Tears, Tristania.