Petri Nakkila (that's what P.E.N. comes from) is self-taught 24-year old guitarist, who released his 3 own songs, which all are instrumental heavy metal.

Mr. Nakkila is a good guitarist, not virtuoso but I can't feel any real weak point in his playing (well, I'm not a guitarist, so some "virtuosos" can handle the shit throwing if bloody necessary). Everything but guitar is done with computer, with highly varying result. Some samples and instrument sounds are simply feeble (like too short grand piano sound for example) but thankfully there's really nice ones too. Drums are usual machine stuff; pretty awful, heh. At this point I really suggest Mr. Nakkila to search for musicians or buying drums, as this solution is enough for a demo only.

Instrumental metal itself is almost totally uncommercial. However, it offers more freedom of action for composer, eg. longish ambientesque passages etc. The title track brings King Diamond, The Vision Bleak and Diabolical Masquerade to my mind, but only because of all those familiar horror melodies. I think this is the weakest song on offer, because 'Forces of Nature's "balls to the wall" mentality and melodies which at times reminds me of some pagan metal stuff, kicks the tile track to Earth's orbit, with its much better melodies and interesting solutions. 'Sorrow of Loneliness' is a nice melancholic piece which builds into heavier heavy metal (again, I can sense some pagan metal feel for some reason or another). Generally, the music flows on pretty well.

I just wonder, how this would sound with vocals and flesh 'n' blood players. I courage Mr. Nakkila to ponder those possibilities, because this demo shows some good and nice ideas, but also some beginner's stumblings.

Reviewed by Lane
03/23/2007 15:36