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shangchi View Drop Down
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Points: 7 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: Fen - Trails out of Gloom
    Posted: July 31 2010 at 12:47
Cool dark, moody prog from the depths of the Canadian forests.  Getting rave reviews, most commonly compared to Tool. Porcupine Tree, Anathema, and the cleaner moments of Opeth.

Their new album is "Trails out of Gloom."   On Ripple Music.

www.ripple-music.com
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Any Colour You Like View Drop Down
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Points: 12294 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 31 2010 at 18:34
I assume you're suggesting Fen (Canada) for inclusion in Progressive Metal?

If so, we'll need some samples for evaluation... do you have a myspace or a samples page?
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shangchi View Drop Down
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Points: 7 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 01 2010 at 11:17
Hey everybody!  Sorry to be such a newbie on this forum, but I guess you gotta learn sometime.  Thanks all for your patience as I figure things out. 

Here's a link to Fen's band page with a player and songs.  They'd certainly fit into the Prog Metal category, but their heaviness is more in tone than in bombast.  Please let me know what you think.

http://www.ripple-music.com/?page=band&band=2

peace,
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shangchi View Drop Down
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Points: 7 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 01 2010 at 11:24
I noticed that the link didn't work as a hyperlink, so I'll past it here, if you could just copy and paste it into your address bar, it should work.

Heavier songs are End of the Dream, Queen of the Mountain, Through the Night. 

The first single is Find that One.  Miracle will be our first video.

Thanks a lot guys,
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Logan View Drop Down
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Points: 32637 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 01 2010 at 13:08
It comes across as more alt. styled than progressive to me, but I'm hardly an expert in this style.

Edited by Logan - August 01 2010 at 13:08
Just a fanboy passin' through.
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Points: 12294 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 01 2010 at 16:31
I'll take a listen now.

Added to our charts for evaluation, you can follow the voting here.


Edited by Any Colour You Like - August 01 2010 at 16:54
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Fen View Drop Down
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Points: 7 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 01 2010 at 23:24
Yeah, for sure. Our thickest roots are bedded in grunge, with some spindlier ones venturing into progland.
Thanks for having a listen.
 
Doug
(vocals/guitar for Fen)
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The Monodrone View Drop Down
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Points: 4489 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 10 2010 at 14:36
Here's my review for Trails Out of Gloom:

Fen - Trails Out of Gloom

Trio Fen embark on a journey in 'Trails Out of Gloom.' They set out to create a masterpiece of modern heavy-prog/alt music, and in my opinion, they did just that.

Doug Harrison (vocals, guitars) is the band leader and manages to create some very nice atmospheric, heavy and yet beautiful tracks on this particular album. His vocals are simply outstanding and go from Tool-ish low-registers and breathy vocals, to Cedric Bixler Zavala falsetto highs, and sometimes Anathema-ish multi-harmonies; dynamic, to say the least.  The band certainly isn't super-technical, nor do they need to be.  Fen seem to be all about atmosphere and feeling and they execute it fully.

Some influences of Fen seem to be mostly from the heavy/alternative progressive scene. Bands like Porcupine Tree, Tool, Anathema and (acoustically) Opeth are certainly bands that Fen look up to.  From Porcupine Tree and Anathema come Fen's beautiful melancholic vocal approach as well as their metal forays; from Tool come a slightly disturbed vibe, and from Opeth come Fen's ability to make acoustic passages folkish and enjoyable. There's no doubt Fen is a progressive band, from the ethereal lyrics to the dark-atmospheric keyboard work, to the the usually-brief technical moments, as well as vocal harmonies and non-conventional songwriting.

Highlights: "Trails Out of Gloom," "Through the Night," "Miracle," the short acoustic interlude "A Clearing" (sheer beauty and feel), and "End of the Dream."

Fen created a truly epic and fresh piece of music with Trails Out of Gloom. They manage to take a multitude of different sounds, influences, and moods and successfully stir them together to make a tasty album full of surprises for any and all listeners.

4.5 out of 5. Really nice album with great production quality, replay value, and overall well-composed songs. Recommended.



Edited by ptkc123 - August 10 2010 at 14:54
    
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yam yam View Drop Down
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Points: 5814 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 06 2012 at 04:44
Bump!
 
I think everyone is familiar with the Black/Post Metal band called 'Fen' from the UK, who are already in the archives, but I can't help wondering what happened to these poor guys from Vancouver, Canada... Confused
 
It seems they were first evaluated about three years ago, when their most recent album was the 2006 offering 'Congenital Fixation'. They were charted at progfreak as Fen (Can)Myspace.com, and rejected by a previous incarnation of the Prog Metal team:
 

Fen (Can)

DateUserChartAction
3yUMURMetal-> Rejected
3yPlankownerMetal (Plankowner)
3yTheProgtologistMetal (TheProgtologist)
3yUMURMetal (UMUR)
3yThe TMetal (The T)
3yPlankownerMetal-> New
 
But then they released 'Trails Out Of Gloom' in 2010, and it appears they were re-entered to progfreak as 
Fen, and evaluated again by a more recent incarnation of the Prog Metal team who gave us this unusual outcome:
 

Fen

DateUserChartAction
12MbonnekMetal (bonnek)
2ybonnekMetal-> Move
2ybonnekMetal (bonnek)
2ybonnekMetal (bonnek)
2yCCVPMetal (CCVP)
2ybonnekMetal-> Discuss
2ybonnekMetal (bonnek)
2ybonnekMetal (bonnek)
2yMartyMcFly89Metal-> Cleared
2yMartyMcFly89Metal (MartyMcFly89)
2yJ-ManMetal (J-Man)
2yAnyColourYouLikeMetal (AnyColourYouLike)
2yAnyColourYouLikeMetal (AnyColourYouLike)
2yAnyColourYouLikeMetal-> New
 
Or using a different way of expressing of the same thing now that a further incarnation of the Prog Metal team is in place:
 

Fen

HPMSCArtistaaboNeRuanRetiredSection
HomepagecaFen Prog Metal Chart: Move
 
Not rejected or cleared (though it appears from the 'recent changes' chart that they were cleared at one time), we see several votes for 'move'...but move to where?
 
The album doesn't sound too bad to me (I haven't heard the earlier ones though), so I was wondering if this might be a bit of 'unfinished business' that needs taking care of?
 
Any info would be appreciated. Embarrassed
 
Edit: Here's another thread for the 'Trails Out Of Gloom' album, from around the same time as this one (also started by user shangchi who appears to be connected with the bands label 'Ripple Music'), with some very positive words for it: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=69816.


Edited by yam yam - March 06 2012 at 04:57
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Andy Webb View Drop Down
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Points: 13298 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 06 2012 at 05:46
This may have been before the HPT used PF, because we rejected them outright.
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Fen View Drop Down
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Points: 7 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 06 2012 at 14:16
Yee Haw! Rejected by ProgArchives!

Thanks for following up on us Yam Yam.  We've got another album coming out this summer.
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