Some pretty interesting melodic death/thrash from Sweden. Ex-member of Arch Enemy, et al Johan Liiva on vocals and Johan Reinholdz ex-Andromeda covering guitars/bass/drums/keys/vocals. This album is quite technical in origin - the kind of heavy metal that explores different avenues of sounds with a chunky/thick tone. Johan Liiva sounds like he did on Arch Enemy's 'Black Earth' (1996) - deep throat with the Swedish tonality to it. Definitely a band to check out because of it's experimentation and creativity. The guitars, production and aura to the album is quite lucid.

The music changes all of the time - there are technical parts as explained, slower melodies with clean tone guitar, bits of fury and ferocious overtures as well. Most of the time, the album is heavy - it's good that they vary it though. The lyrics I couldn't really fit in to my mold, but Johan does a good job here as usual, even though the words don't interest me whatsoever. The music is what counts really and I'm totally engrossed in it. Johan Reinholdz simply shreds on the guitar - he's a little more technical on his leads via 'Deus Deceptor' (2002), but more experimenting on here.

Surprising that this melodic death/thrash has blast beating on it, but yeah it's there. The riffs are quite complex and ultimately in a league of its own. If you like old Arch Enemy, you'll like this. Definitely worth checking out on the internet. I really think that they put a lot of time into this one since 'Deus Deceptor' was released in 2002 and their former drummer was dropped from the band. This one sounds more modern, but not overthrown with technology. These guys have talent and they don't need to use that technology in the album to sound good, both Johans dominate.

Production quality is quite noble. You can make out everything on here in complete satisfaction. The unique quality in this band is that they really don't sound unoriginal even though Johan Liiva's vocals are so much like on the first Arch Enemy, but the music is in a league of its own. I enjoyed listening to this one, but it's too but for the US it's almost $30 for a 40 minute album. It's supposed to get released on Ibex Moon Records, but the release is from 2012 and I'm not sure when that's going to happen. For now, YouTube is my source for listening to this one.

I really think that there is some justice done here - the band put forth a strong release and I hope that this duo sticks together and gets more well known because there is so much potential to continue on riding the metal path for them. Their music is wholly their own, sounds like no other, and is heavy for the most part. I do like them a lot and I think that if you are a fan of this kind of genre(s), you'll like it too! Look it up and see if the sounds are to your liking. Definitely are to mine and I'm not really biased because I like all sorts of metal.

Rating: 8 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Death8699
10/21/2014 17:26