These Swedish natives have been existence since 2008 and this is their first full-length death/doom metal release. The lineup here is as such: Niclas Ankarbranth on vocals, Wilhelm Lindh on guitars, Francisco Martin on bass, and Juan Pablo Donoso on drums. The main beef that I have with the release is the production quality, but this is the band's first full-length effort and I think that they did a good job in the songwriting department, though it took repeated listens to in order to get into the music. Some Opeth influence here on the guitars.

The music isn't blindingly fast, but there are some tracks that are pretty memorable. The tempos to the them are moderate and I'd consider the band to be more of a doom metal act than a death metal one. The leads are fantastic and Wilhelm can really shred. His writing on the guitars riff wise feature complex overtures with palm muted outputs mixing in some clean tone guitar with it. I think that the vocals ruin the guitar though because Niclas can't really sing too well. His vocals range from low burly segments mixed in with screaming outputs.

I really dug the music despite the vocals however. The band needs to get someone that can augment their melodic sound to better fit the music. Niclas just needs to have better vocal segments than anything else. The guitar riffs were interesting and moderately tempo based. There aren't any songs on here that were fast and furious. They were mostly slow paced and fit the doom metal genre more so than the death metal one. The vocals make the band into being a dual genre act.

The production was decent, though the snare drum sounded flat. That's the only negative really to say about the album in this department. The guitars featuring the clean tone, heavy distortion and bass were all mixed into this release pretty well. The vocals suited the music but I just couldn't get into Niclas's voice. It could be that it's because I'm not a huge fan of doom metal. It pretty much bores me. The guitar melodies make up for the boredom that I experienced listening to this album.

I wouldn't say to run right out and purchase this release ASAP. YouTube some of the songs first before you make any kind of conclusion as to whether or not you like the band. I think that they're decent like Moonspell just not as much quality as that band. The melodies were amazing though. Wilhelm really put forth rock solid guitar work both on the rhythms and leads. I think that because of his efforts it got me more into the band on a whole scale. If you want decent death/doom metal, this album does cut it.

Rating: 7½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Death8699
02/15/2012 14:22