13 years and seven albums amongst other releases. It's been a long way for Finnish pagan metallers Soulgrind. 'The Origins of the Paganblood' does not take the Lord Heikkinen's horde back to their roots, but is a step forward. To where? Giger-esque cover art does not reveal it, believe me.

Last album's ('Into the Dark Vales of Death' [2002])thrash metal has been dropped. 'The Origins...' is dark metal, but it's headbangable for a good time. Part modern dark metal (in vein of eg. Old Man's Child), part Finnish schlager and part heavy riffing. But no folk stuff. Songwriting is not sharpest from the band. At times things sink into generic dark metal which can be best (or rather worst) heard on familiar horror keyboards, 'Red River' being the example of this. Dark metal's mysticism rears its head highest on weirder parts, I think I'll include Greek-style keyboards to this, as well as experimental beginning of 'The Tree of Life'. Finnish origins of the band can be heard in minor key playing and singing melodies similar to schlagers. And when speaking of singing, it's all about Tanya Lilith's (ex-Lullacry) nice vocals. Her voice is strong, she can sing and some of her melodies are simply fantastic. No wonder she has a bigger part on this album, because she has brought life to many a song. Azhemin's (Thy Serpent, Shape Of Despair etc.) dry black metal voice fits okay, but his English pronunciation is blunt. By the way, what's that Iron Maiden stuff on Tanya's vocals on 'Flesh Marionette'? Clearly borrowed from 'Caught Somewhere in Time'. And then Maiden-esque guitars on the beginning of 'Paganblood'... Well, I enjoyed 'em! 'Autumn' is probably the most beautiful song from Soulgrind ever, but don't worry, it's middle part is a bit more brutal.

The album has huge guitar walls, which is nothing usual for dark metal. The sound is very clear and heavy for sure. Maybe it's too clear, because it's a tad "plastic", especially some drums. A 88-minute DVD comes with the album (at least first copies), but excuse me for not reviewing it, it didn't include with a promo copy. I'm not commenting on lyrics either.

'The Origins of the Paganblood' is individual dark metal album at its best moments, but the songwriting is not as strong as on 'Into the Dark Vales of Death'. Worth checking out for dark metal fans (especially Finnish ones methinks), but this will not become a classic.

Rating: 7- (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
04/05/2005 22:22