This is the debut album from Finnish group and looks like it's also the last album. Wings also released a couple of demos and a 7" EP before the album. Started as a one-man project by Gabriel Suoraniemi (ex-Cartilage), this album features a full line-up.

Wings' music is mixture of styles and it mnages to be an individual one. There's death metal, maybe even some thrash. Then there's dance rhythm on the last track. However, everything is surrounded by a dark aura. Sometimes darker, sometimes it tries to be darker as it is.

'Sunburnt' opens the album nicely, being the best track on offer. It's about the Winter War. The song has some synth and sequencer stuff made quite lame way, I'm afraid. It just makes whole dark atmosphere sound cheap. 'Eden' is a darker and lyrical diatribes start to show on this song. The song is okay, but its chorus is definitely one of the album's highlights. 'Cast Asunder' (another good chorus) and 'Unwind' are faster and groovier tracks on offer and these also have better compositions. 'Thus Far' (yet another good chorus) has some mid-My Dying Bride / mid-Paradise Lost vibes in it.

With 'Equidistant' the things start to go wrong or boring, or both. 'Austere' has some goth in it, but the biggest piece of crap is yet to come... Its name is 'Passion Et Resurrection' and it's a bloody Enigma rip-off! Yes, you read right. A "dark" dance piece with perverted lyrics. My imagination ends here. If anyone wants to use synths, drum machine, sequencer and stuff, they should sound good, not toyish crap. This is a big minus always and on 'Diatribe', too. When listened with headphones, this inferior point simply jumps out of grass like a horny toad. There's also some choir sampled (Enigma, anyone?)... But, in general, two big defects are composition and annoying parts. The songs are patchy and some parts/riffs are so annoying, that forward button is in a good use.

Vocals are another minus point, and a big one, too. Harder, growled ones aren't hard at all and growled ones are appalling, they shouldn't probably be called that way. Sampled vocals are even more crap. And I have nothing good to say about clean vocals. The vocals, all of them, just ruin the atmosphere. My ears can't take these. Only better vocals are on those better songs, so maybe this thing makes those songs sound better?! Instrument handling is overally good, but drumming of Mr Hahto (of Rotten Sound fame and Vomiturition) is once again a highlight. He simply does sound individual!

Well, this album is different, but still it's under average by my hard judgement. Wings have tried to make their own style, but it is too patchy and doesn't work on 'Diatribe'. I can't compare this to those demo works, but this sounds like a work in progress. And still nothing has come out after this... The Ahti Kortelainen production makes something up for all these flaws, but it alone can't raise this up from thousands of metal records.

Rating: 5- (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
10/10/2002 11:49