PARAMAECIUM - WITHIN THE ANCIENT FOREST (*NEW-GATEFOLD SPLATTER VINYL, 2022, Bombworks Records)

PARAMAECIUM - WITHIN THE ANCIENT FOREST (*NEW-GATEFOLD SPLATTER VINYL, 2022, Bombworks Records)

  • Limited to just 300 Color Vinyl (deluxe Gatefold)
  • Part of the elite Metal Icon Series
  • Black polylined inner sleeve
  • Remastered to perfection
  • Features ex-Mortification (1st three albums) drummer, Jason Sherlock!
  • The album is on the Christian Metal Realm's Top-100 Christian Metal Albums with Extol, Crimson Moonlight, Antestor and Deliverance!

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT WITHIN THE ANCIENT FOREST....

Another pure masterwork only this time with even more symphonic elements, i.e. flutes, violines, chellos, harpsicord, etc. Another element that adds to the appeal is the outstanding opera vocals of Sue Bock, who has an amazing voice. This particular album is a concept album based on a book, also titled "Within the Ancient Forest" written by bassist/vocalist Andrew Tompkins. The story is of a young man in search of truth in a land where immortals, dragons, magic, and the powers of darkness prevail. I have never read the book, but the music is fabulous, even without the storyline.
                       NOLIFETILMETAL REVIEWS - Scott Waters

This is their peak. You get a lot of folk medieval instruments not common in these bands. You get melodic songs, fast parts, clean vocals, sopranos, spectacular drumming, an involving mood, etc. What else do you want? Not that ‘doomy’ and/or deathly as Exhumed but still surpassed by the maturity of ‘WTAFs’ grandeur.
                               METAL-ARCHIVES REVIEW

5 OUT OF 5 RATING
"Within the Ancient Forest" is so fully-formed, and so ahead of its time in the way it capitalizes on and makes full use of musical tactics and techniques that would never be found in such complexity and tightness in the works of Opeth, Therion, and countless other power and death metal bands until a number of years later, that it deserves a huge amount of respect. 
                              SPUTNIK MUSIC REVIEWS

Paramaecium is:
Andrew Tompkins - male and growled vocals, bass, lyrics
Jason De Ron - guitar
Chris Burton - guitar
Jayson Sherlock - drums

ABOUT THE ALBUM
From Melbourne, Australia comes Andrew Tompkins, a singer and bass player, who formed Paramaecium with guitarist Jason De Ron and drummer Jayson Sherlock, the former drummer with Christian death metal initiators Mortification. Exhumed of the Earth was issued on the same label as Anathema, as well as Christian label R.E.X. Records. That album, a virtuoso of epic doom and death, was well received and is now a classic amongst doom metal enthusiasts.

Two years later Paramaecium released their second full length Within the Ancient Forest. R.E.X. Records was in the process of folding so the band signed to a small German label which received distribution from Nuclear Blast. Musically, Ancient Forest is more diverse, melodic and technical than Exhumed, and every bit as brilliant. The band brought in second guitarist Chris Burton for this recording, and the musical arrangements highlight this. The album was meant to accompany a book Tompkin’s penned, an old world fantasy, written allegorically in the thematic nature of Pilgrim’s Progress, about Tompkin’s spiritual journey. While that book is now as scarce as hen’s teeth, the lyrics, based upon the book, stand on their own. Herein is an example from the first track In Exordium for your eyes to feast upon:

“…the vessel gains the embankment, the youth alighting on the shore.
He wraps the cloak for warmth against the asperity of the night, and
upon his gloved wrist the falcon waits until the light of dawn reveals
that which is unseen…”

Within the Ancient Forest finally finds a home on deluxe Gatefold Splatter single Vinyl, which enhances the cadence of these compositions. This is a must-have for any metal enthusiast, especially die-hard fans of death and doom metal. Count yourself fortuitous for picking up this under-appreciated treasure.  

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