VOIR Québec Blinded by Faith, qui opte pour une approche résolument mélodique et qui mise beaucoup sur des développements instrumentaux recherchés est sans aucun doute l'un des bands les plus intéressants du moment. Hard & Heavy #60 Hard & Heavy est ravi d'apprendre qu'il a des lecteurs québécois qui, de plus, ont pris leur courage à 2 mains pour sortir dans le froid nous poster leur démo. Du coup, ce serais mal venu de notre part d'en dire du mal. Heureusement, le problème ne se pose pas puisque le black metal symphonique de Blinded by Faith est exquis. Uniquement violent dans le chant et quelques accords de guitares, l'ensemble est étonnament harmonieux et délicat pour un groupe de musique extrême. La qualité de la production n'ajoute qu'au plaisir d'écouter ce disque, à la fois technique et enlevé. L’Édition Métallique 8.5/10 Veiled Hideousness est le résultat du premier enregistrement studio de ce groupe de Lévis. Les premières notes de "Behind The Placid Mask Of The Starlit Cosmos" suffisent pour convaicre que ce band est en pleine possession de ses moyens. Le jeu des guitares et du clavier est un véritable délice pour l'oreille et le drum est vraiment puissant et très tight. La voix élimine toute suite les fans de black conservateurs! Assez éraillée avec des calls black super aigus. Personnellement je trouve vraiment intéressant que le gars chante pas sur un super kit de vocal, on voit ce qu'il peut à frette et il se donne vraiment. Et finalement, les textes sont très inspirés et la pochette est superbe. Le gros defaut de cet album est surement de pas être assez long (31 minutes, eh oui c'est un démo!). C'est le groupe parfait pour ceux qui ont aimés Cradle dans leur belles années. Par Hell-Vis Brave words and Bloody knuckles #41 (anglais) A lot of potential lurks within this young french-Canadian band. Cradle of Filth are obviously the main inspiration and at times, Blinded by Faith do sound like they're borrowing just a little too heavily from Dani and his mates. However, with age comes experience and maturity and the seven songs on offer here show serious promise. A few pointers if I may, change the band logo immediately and develop a unified image. Vocalist Tom looks like Children Of Bodom's reaper mascot while the rest of the band are rather ordinary. And the title "Behind the placid mask of the starlit cosmos" is simply not as convincing as COF's "The principle of evil made flesh". Otherwise, keep plodding along and Satan may smile at you sooner than you think. Metal-Rules.com 3.5/5 (anglais) I think this month my reviews have run the spectrum of metal. From blues to black with power and rap in between. Well Blinded By Faith are the black in my reviews this month. Blinded by Faith hail from Quebec, Canada and play "symphonic black metal" The band was started in 1996 under the name Cryptic Spell and played death metal. After a few member changes they changed their name to Blinded By Faith and changed to more melodic and atmospheric black metal. In December of 1999 the band entered Tuxedo Studio to record their debut CD "Veiled Hideousness". The CD consists of 7 songs and clocks in at just over 31 minutes. The music kicks off with the intro "Somber Harbinger" a nice little orchestrated piece which continues on into "Behind The Placid Mask of the Starlit Cosmos". This is an interesting song as Blinded By Faith show that they have loads of melody and a fine grasp of song structure. "Veiled Hideousness" kicks off with a sound more akin to Theater of Tragedy than Cradle of Filth. A church organ ushers in the track "My Burnt Wings". The song however soon takes off and develops into a great mid tempo thrasher. The CD closes out with the depressing outro "Melania". Overall a great disc. I was greatly impressed by Blinded By Faith. For a first recording they certainly have their act together. The production is great and vocalist Tom certainly has the black metal screech down pat. The thing that impressed me most about the songs were the melody. I found myself listening to each song intently to see what they would do next. If rumours are correct Blinded By Faith are on the verge of being signed to a major label and as such should be able to get their music out to a wider audience. Reviewer: Rick Michel’s Metal Crypt 5/5 (anglais) Veiled Hideousness is the first demo from Blinded By Faith, a black metal band from the Quebec City area. This is my first review of a black metal album, so it's kind of hard to make an educated comparison with other bands of the genre. Veiled Hideousness contains seven tracks, the first and last ones being instrumental, both pretty "relax" actually, although they both create a somewhat dark, melancholic atmosphere, which I think make a very appropriate intro and outro to the album. The music is a little less "violent" than what I've heard from some other black metal bands, in other words those guys are not trying to break a speed record with their instruments. The keyboard work is very well done and blends well with the other instruments, in fact I would say that everything blends well together, including the vocals which flawlessly follow the beat of each song. I have to say I'm impressed by the songwriting, which is very well thought out. I was going to give the demo a rating of four, then realized I had forgotten to take a look at the lyrics. I wasn't expecting much, after reading interviews with God Dethroned and Marduk which both sounded to me like a bunch of immature idiots with lyrics not worth the brainpower of an empty can. Well, Blinded By Faith definitely set themselves apart here. The lyrical content show that those guys have put some serious work into it, hell, some of the lyrics could practically be called a work of poetry. Too bad the lyrics for My Burnt Wings are not included in the booklet, but they are available on their web site. Veiled Hideousness sure hasn't turned me into a black metal fan, but I think it was a very good first experiment with the genre. So you might see a couple of black metal reviews on this site in the future. In the meantime, if you're into black metal, give this demo a try. Reviewer: Michel Renaud The Metal Observer 8/10 (anglais) Inviting guitar melodies and well-executed high-pitched screams are this CD's main attractions along with a nice production and interesting atmosphere. I have to admit I was rather shocked when I saw the similarities between this band and CRADLE OF FILTH. In no way does BLINDED BY FAITH try to imitate CRADLE OF FILTH's music, but still the resemblance surrounds just about every aspect of "Veiled Hideousness". Though somewhat softer and more melodic than its popular counterpart, BLINDED BY FAITH manages to take the Black Metal-genre to the next level and making it more accessible to the listener, even more enjoyable. I am no true fan of Black Metal, but I couldn't help but feel a certain need for this demo whenever I left it in its jewel case. It really grows on you. Both the intro and the last track are instrumental interludes and yet they capture so much emotion and feeling, I was literally staring blankly at my stereo when I first listened to "Mélania". As I've mentioned earlier, the melodies are truly incredible. As fingers dance on the fret-board, a dark atmosphere emanates from the stringed instruments and you can almost feel the presence of a thick fog gradually surrounding you and wrapping you in its cold silky arms. Faster songs will keep you wide-awake, but the brilliant tempo-changes will still catch you off guard. If you dig in the booklet and seek out the lyrics behind Tom's [singer] aggressive vocals, you'll notice that the tales they picture are nightmarish and quite appropriate for the overall feeling of the record. What is the future of Metal? I wouldn't dare try to answer such a question, but somehow I know that bands such as BLINDED BY FAITH will lead the way and open new paths so the limits of imagination are even further and the originality even bolder. Reviewer: Mathieu