New breed of melodic death metal is on the rise even in Poland, the land whose metal musicians are known for their respect towards the history of metal music and their roots. Empatic who were formed in 2005 are one of these bands who aren't afraid of mixing together both old and new styles. 'Gods of Thousand Souls' is their debut album, with which the band took 5 years building it.

Empatic aren't inventing the wheel again, because their music as a whole does contain some well-established styles. They aren't the first band, nor the last, to throw very much loathed metalcore into their melting pot. However, it is death metal that is the band's footing, being much stronger in its presence than anything else. Eastern European death metal (e.g. Czechs Hypnos and countrymen Vader) and Swedish melodic death metal (albeit similar to such bands as Canadian Kataklysm and Dutch Callenish Circle, among others, that are influenced by Swedish styles of that genre) are things that rendezvous here. Another Swedish-based influence is modern thrash metal in vein of The Haunted, Carnal Forge, plus Germans Dew-Scented and even modern bashings from US veterans Exodus. The cover of OMD's 'Enola Gay' is a fun pick for a guy like me, who listened to a lot of electronic music back in the day. It's nowhere near a colossal disaster it was made to be.

Empatic's riffs are often very familiar, and at times bland, too. There are some cool ones scattered around the album, and their use of guitar leads and melodic playing is rather successful and also enjoyable (e.g. tracks 5, 9 and 10). The songwriting itself is about "hit & miss". 'Fulfilled Dreams' is very Arch Enemy-esque and also most catchy on offer when thinking about the band's own work. Simply, some parts do not stick together well enough, but on the other hand can be seen as tries to find something own. The songs tend to be more or less catchy, but when the album ends, it is hard to remember very much of it all. It's about "joy of a moment", as the album is quickly experienced. The album does not contain any music that bad, that I wanted to push "stop" button, though. When holding the album in hand in some record store, looking at its covers, the graphic design sums up how the musical contents are like; cool but nothing new.

While Empatic's playing is tight, it is also groovy. It makes the music breathe and stay out from becoming stifling (that's caused by the songwriting). The tempos vary from fast to mid-paced. Keeping out from the lightning fast beats allows the music to be on the groovy side. Surely, there are slight exceptions from the rule, but nothing voluminous. The band's aggro-level is nothing like crushing, actually they hardly achieve so much as a bruising muscle. Funny thing is, that it's 'Enola Gay', which contains heaviest blasting part on the album! Anyway, these guys clearly aren't beginners with their instruments, but this is not about showing off, either.

A lot of muscle comes from the production of the album. It is punchy and beefy, and isn't much plagued by muddiness. It does not sound like drums were triggered beyond point of ridiculousness, but everything sound kind of organic. The guitar tones, while being rusty in a fitting metal way, are a bit non-lethal for this kind of music. The bass, as it often happens, doesn't get quite that foothold it would require. This album was made to be listened to loud, but it sounds good with low volume levels too.

The vocals are low growling and grunting, which is made more powerful by lapping more voices above each other. This monotonous presentation is also accompanied by more high-picthed growling voice. However, it does not create that typical "demonic voices" effect. Some whispered and clean voices are infrequently used. The lyrics are about demons called human beings, taking inspiration from religion causing wars, people doing wrong things and lying. It's all quite poorly written, but understandable if given some thought.

The band struggle in trying to get their own identity out here, and do not succeed in it. It's definitely not an easy task for anyone. Empatic were still in early stages in their development. At least they had a lot to better when considering how this album came out. While writing this review, I've also listened to their latest album 'Ruined Landscape', that was released in April this year. I'm not still writing anything about whether the band managed to improve any of the lacking aspects on this album. If you aren't looking for anything new, and a mixture of aforementioned bands and their likes doesn't sound like a bad deal to you, then why not give a try songs mentioned in the third paragraph.

Rating: 6½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
07/12/2014 12:34