Incendium (ex-Black Shrine, published one demo) came back after four years of silence. The band started by playing melodic death metal. Nowadays Incendium's music is something very different.

Being fairly unique with their style, Incendium perform melodic metal with melancholic feel. The band's darkness isn't very deep, but the music is not to easily digested either, thanks to nice compositions, that are different to each other. There are catchy elements in Incendium's music for sure. Both guitarists bring in the metal with their riffing and with playing some quite tasty leads. Generally, Incendium aren't aggressive or heavy, but more like some lighter melodic metal with slight gothic elements. Touches of Insomnium and Iron Maiden are cool indeed.

Aki Hahto (brother of Rotten Sound's Kai Hahto) sings mostly with a clean voice. Some short growls can be heard. The clean vocals differ nicely from many bands. Middle register is in use heavy use, together with some higher register, too. His softer singing somewhat reminds me of Damian Wilson (Star One, ex-Threshold etc.) and higher register of Silent Voices' Michael Henneken. Aki's voice works quite well, but sometimes he has to search for right notes. More practice! Otherwise the band sounds good, no sloppiness nor mistakes. The sound is good enough for hunting down a record deal, even though guitars could be more powerful.

'After Silence' should be checked out by those who enjoy melody and melancholy in their metal. Just don't wait to be crushed by this nice music.

Reviewed by Lane
11/04/2004 18:04