The latest from Roses Never Fade is this limited edition, self-titled, three-song 7" from Neuropa Records. This outing sees the collaborative project debuting a new lineup where Nick Brewer and Matt Shack from Pale Creation are joined by Nathan Opposition from Ancient VVisdom. One of the band's most somber tracks to date, "When the Light Dies", opens with finger-picked acoustic guitars and soft, monotone singing with subtle lead melodies tucked away in the background; "The Lilies and the Lions" utilizes strummed acoustics with some light delay and softly spoken lyrics consisting of a slightly modified passage from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The White Company"; while "Once Upon a Time" (which is longer than both other tracks combined) builds on a crawling acoustic riff combined with pulsing, lightly distorted chord progressions and distant, squealing drones/feedback—shifting the delay effects over to Nick's trademark vocal approach. Overall, this 11-minute journey represents a slight change in direction for the group—in some ways even more stripped down and minimal, but equally impressive. As always, I'm quite looking forward to hearing more. Very nice...
Roses Never Fade "When the Light Dies" (excerpt)
Then, as the sun burns away the day, I envision the sky in flames. I am captured by the life, illuminating inside, where one is left to find that the shadows decide when the light dies...
The records are housed in a spot-varnished sleeve and available on three colors of vinyl (250 on black, 125 on white, and 75 on grey), so... as usual, don't sleep on placing an order if you'd like to get your hands on a copy!
