Being a sci-fi freak, Armageddon's first album was a must to check out for me. Lyrics tell a tale of a bunch of humans collected to leave the Earth before all of human race is wiped away by death from above. But what happens on this space adventure? Check it out yourselves, I'm not spoiling a bit.

The band is Christopher Amott's (Arch Enemy) child, but still more like a project. Gothenburg-metal is the name of the game, something like thrash and death metal mixed with guitar melodies and technicality. Varying music works for a big part, but sometimes the album doesn't hang together well: The first surprise is 'Funeral in Space', which is an acoustic piece (at first) with a violin. Not bad, nothing like that, but too different. But 'Galaxies Away' sucks, a percussive piece, totally out of place here. Maybe the guy wanted to show off a bit, I can't think of anything else?! 'Children of the New Sun' is the next one. Starting with odd atmospherics, then exploding into warped doom. So, the metal parts work the best for me. The album is short and those three pieces just shorten the metal part even more. They simply do not fit with the rest of the songs.

Chris' playing is just amazing, I could listen to it for hours. Of course Arch Enemy is the name, that raises to my mind while listening to this. Just check out 'The Juggernaut Divine' and tell me it does NOT sound like Arch Enemy... Peter Wildoer (now in Darkane and Time Requiem, ex-Agregator, ex-Arch Enemy) plays drums and he is also a joy to listen to and he does some more jazzy and groovy things a lot. A good change, for sure. A lot of echo on drums, maybe a tad too much. Jonas Nyren's (now in In Thy Dreams) throat is harsh and spitting, but his English pronunciation isn't too good. Layout is nice with real NASA photos, but the cover artwork is ugly.

Maybe the album will open wholly some day. This leaves me with mixed feelings. Good metal, technical yet comprehensible, but some material is out of place. Above average, though, but still no potential to become a classic in my book. After the debut, the band went towards more melodic metal, so this is a nice piece for those who enjoy Gothenburg-metal to the bone.

Rating: 6½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
05/09/2003 11:17