An aura of melancholy. Beauty of sadness. The power of darkness. The grip of coldness. These things are something very Finnish.

This debut full length release from Fall Of The Leafe contains every single one of those factors. The band operates in the cold fields of dark metal. The music is full of great melodies, both aggressive and highly beautifully folkish for a good time (but not chirpy like many; more like Amorphis on 'Tales from the Thousand Lakes' four years earlier). The skill to compose meaningful melodies is one of the strongest factors of the band. Fantastic twin guitar harmonies are present through the whole record, and are backed by a good rhythm section and synth to make this album suitably bombastic. And of course some acoustic guitar to build the folky vibes. The album's nine songs are mostly fast-paced, and even being somewhat alike, roll on nicely, but there's one thing that brings the score down and it is the fact that the many songs sound similar-ish.

The vocals are for pretty much about usual blackish creature-growling, but there's some clearer voices used too. Effectively, I may add. Sometimes there's more than just one vocal track. The lyrics fit well with cold atmosphere, being about universe and also about inner universe.

'Evanescent...' was recorded in the legendary Tico-Tico studio and sound quality is quite good, as is playing. I just had to accommodate myself to that guitar sound, which is a bit thin and rather weird. But no big problem, that... This record provides enjoyable listening for dark metal fans and even for the f(r)iends of black metal and death metal alike.

Rating: 7 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
12/31/1999 13:20