ROSES NEVER FADE is a collective of musicians/artists hailing from different countries ( BE/US/DE…) and working in a lose manner on different projects. Involved are Dwid Hellion ( INTEGRITY), Matt Schack (ART ATTACK), Nick Fiction (PALE CREATION), T (VVEGAS), Stephanie VH and recent addition Nathan Opposition (ANCIENT WISDOM).

The self-titled 7″ ROSES NEVER FADE is a welcome follow up after the FADE TO BLACK full-album (2010) and delivers a nice dosage of acoustic ‘HOLY TERROR’.

As said, being a collective of creative individuals, RNF made an effort of delivering a fine piece of art.

The EP comes in three different colors, black (250), white (125) and grey (75), with only 450 pressed in total i ordered the ‘Unholy Trinity’. Normally i’m not that into fanatically collecting all colorways and/or pressings, but i felt that this EP should be a first attempt at collecting all versions (except the test press, missed out on that one).

Now let’s take a closer look at the artwork and most important of all the music on this pieces of art.

Dark imagery accompanied by spot-varnish print on the cover, featuring Dwid’s well known artwork, beckoned me when i opened this bundle. As you can see a lot of attention went into the details, there’s even little bats and crosses cut out of the spot-varnish RNF print on the front. Grey, black and white are the main colors of this pressing, artwork and content.

In a black inner sleeve we find a 7″ containing 3 songs, starting off with ‘When The Light Dies’, the perfect time to turn your light-switch down and your sound-system up.
The vocals of Nathan Opposition, accompanied on guitar by Nick Fiction, guide you through this song.
A ‘Processean’  inspired tale creeps through your ears, about life and death and one’s vision upon it. Together with the guitar strumming this cry to heavens set us on a dark desolate path. As it is, so it be.

Also on the A side is ‘Many Of The Company’, a Nick Fiction creation, sung and played by Nick depicting

a love for medieval inspired lyrics. Just a guitar strumming and Nick’s narrating vocals telling the history of two knights in the castle of ‘The Lilies and the Lions’.

‘Once Upon A Time’ closes off this EP with Matt Shack on guitar and Nick on vocals, a long intro brings us to Nick’s voice chanting the lyrics, composed out of the darkest abyss of his mind, while the electric guitar weeps away in the background playing some HOLY TERROR inspired licks. Another tale about a certain vision on life, welcomed by some and disguised by other.If you’re into the lyrics and mindset of HOLY TERROR affiliated bands then RNF can offer a nice alternative to the usual hardcore/metal madness you love from them. All Hell doesn’t need to break out every part of the day, so this EP is a warm welcome for those quit moments where you can use a break from all the mayhem.

HOLY TERROR unplugged is still dark and apocalyptic enough to release your inner demons on.

For those curious how all of the above described really sounds, here’s a link to listen to some

previous work by RNF to introduce you all. This is a song from the previous full-album
‘Fade To Black’ and features Dwid vocals. This gives you an example of how the collaboration between
this wolfpack of ‘twisted’ creative minds works.

As said in the beginning this is not your typical hardcore/metal review that you are all longing for. This time RWHAF brings you an acoustic record, many will not like this EP for being to soft, slow, not hardcore enough and they will give stupid comments on this. I don’t care if you don’t like it or think you know what hardcore is all about and feel the need to tell me. To me this is hardcore, even without the distorted guitars and pounding drums. Give it a try and maybe you’ll agree with me that this is a record with history and future that belongs amidst previous discussed hardcore releases. For me it is a keeper that’s getting heavy rotation on my recordplayer.

Ezekiel02:24:81