Entwined's one and only album 'Dancing under Glass' became my another favourite English metal album right after I bought it back in 1998. I wrote a review about it, too, but it was so bad I must write a new one.

'Dancing under Glass' still sounds good, which is kind of a surprise after all these years. See, Entwined didn't invent metal, they just got influenced by various thing they mixed in ther music. Succesfully. Gothic metal doesn't do much to me nowadays, but of course all the classic albums still rule. "Classic British gothic metal" reads on the sticker on the cover and basically, it's quite well put. Mixture of classic British gothic metal in vein of My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost and The Blood Divine, and British sounding heavy metal with some 'Master of Puppets' era (1986) Metallica style riffing is pretty damned good, presenting loads of catchy metal riffs and leads. This is heavy when compared to gothic "metal" of today, and thanks for that goes to rhythm section, too. The songs are nicely crafted, offering enough of variety. There are not much softer parts, which I think is a good thing. Organic production by Simon Efemey is okay, but still a bit blurred.

Keyboards play important part. At least now they sound general gothic stuff done to death, be it eerie, epic or piano work. At their best they make the band sound really epic. However, they do not ruin much in my opinion, but I seriously believe that Entwined would have worked better as 2 guitars/bass/drums band. At least when hearing the ballsless and powerless vocals. No skill to sing and most of time off-key, the vocals are bad (sounding like a worse of ex-Anathema / The Blood Divine vocalist Darren White). Okay, the voice isn't the loudest thing in the mix, which was a wise decision to make. Calmer clean voice is a tad better than awful rougher ones. Which aren't rough at all, to tell the truth. A few growled vocals show, that using growl would have been the ideal style here. Love themed lyrics are lame, but what to expect from such?

I considered hard, whether should I grant 'Dancing under Glass' a honorary mention or no. My choice is no, because of the bad vocals. I remember I got over them after a few spins and found out how good the songs are. And the songs are still as good as back in 1998. Almost classy stuff, this.

Rating: 7+ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
04/20/2005 19:56