It's actually quite unbelievable just how many good demo bands are out there waiting to get noticed and how many bad bands who are on some label releasing their crap music. Ikinae is another demo band whose music is so much better and more unique than many a boring and visionless metal album released nowadays.

Ikinae plays heavy metal with prog touches, but it's not so easy task to describe this becuse there's quite suprising elements lurking in these songs. Actually it's Finnish Silent Voices that come to my mind while listening to Ikinae. Bands aren't similar, but utilize many same things in their music, eg. heavy riffing, out-of-ordinary rhythms and song structures and portions of marvellous melodies. 'No Shame at All' is heavy ass kicking opener, 'Me, Bob & Jack' is darker song about split personalities but still one of the more straight ones and 'Lucky Seven' is another heavy slice. 'Lucky Seven' features vocalists from such bands as Fadeout, Force Majeure, Goathemy, Miseria and Mirzadeth and they give the song characteristics of seven deadly sins. 'Take Me Home' begins acoustically in beautifully calm way, as the title of the song might suggest. The song has more in common with, say, Metallica's 'Fade to Black' than any sicky sweet power ballad so often heard performed by a metal band. Closer 'Hard to Breathe' is another dark song full of variety. Some of lead guitar work is very Iron Maiden-esque (though I don't gripe about it), but there's loads of different stuff too. 'Onnenseppo' is a funny non-metal (some style I'm not familiar with, hehe) version of 'Lucky Seven'.

The band are skilled players, no doubt about it. It doesn't mean that this is an exhibition of individual skills, because this is very much tightly performed. There is no synthesizers on this one, but some accordion for Finnish feel (though only on track 3). Vocals are also good and individual. Mainly vocals are clean, varying from powerful to calmer ones, but there's a few lines of rougher styles. Soundwise this is good and raw, because this was recorded in a few days, so don't expect album quality. Packaged nicely, too.

If you seek darker heavy metal with a twist, then you should check Ikinae out now. And all Silent Voices fans, same words to you. My bet is, that Ikinae gets a record deal with 'Second Symptom'.

Reviewed by Lane
08/05/2005 12:56