Fans of powerfully played Metal will get a real kick out of this fine album.

Virginia's While Heaven Wept are celebrating their 25th Anniversary year with the release of their sixth full-length album 'Suspended At Aphelion'. A concept album with only one track that is split into eleven parts (now that's what you call a Prog song) and according to their bio they are a Doom Metal band? So as much as I like Doom Metal, I was worried that maybe this wouldn't be for the readers of Fireworks. However, after many listens to '...Aphelion' I just don't hear this Doominess myself. The album instead reminded me of a great mix of bands like Evergrey, Everon and Cloudscape but in a more laid back way.

The first track 'I: Introspectus' is ushered in with some dream like Spanish acoustic guitar, which soon flows into 'II: Icarus And I' where the guitars of Scott Loose and Tom Phillips join with the atmospheric vocals of Rain Irving and help to set you on a musical Journey that you'll want to return to many, many times. 'III: Ardor' is a heavy guitar piece with riffs galore which then leads to 'IV: Heartburst', a beautiful piano led ballad that once again sees Irving giving his all vocally and that is where a lot of this superb albums strength lies, in his passionate and sincere delivery of the songs.

The instrumental 'V: Indifference Turned Paralysis' is a fast paced all out Rocker with some great guitar work and the keyboards of Michelle Schrotz are used as the engine to really power the song along its path. The last few tracks 'VI: The Memory Of Bleeding', 'VII: Souls In Permafrost', 'VIII: Searching The Stars', 'IX: Reminiscence Of Strangers', 'X: Lifelines Lost' and 'XI: Retrospectus' (all combined) only clock in at around thirteen minutes in length but they are still full of dramatic overblown keyboards, guitars and vocals and it's this drama that keeps your attention locked onto what this fine band are doing.

Taken in one sitting, as a single musical suite, you can hear just what WHW were attempting to do on 'Suspended At Aphelion'; that they achieve it is a bonus for the listener. It's my opinion that fans of powerfully played Metal (with a subtle edge and a sense of drama) will get a real kick out of this fine album. Again, just like Scar For Life, I'm off to see if I can raid the piggy bank so I can buy While Heaven Wept's back catalogue.

Ian Johnson