Nattvindens Gråt - Chaos Without Theory (1997)

The year after Nattvindens Gråt released their worthy if oddly vocalized debut, A Bard's Tale, two of the members (bassist Sami Vänskä and keyboard player Tuomas Holopainen) would go on to form Nightwish, which in a few words would become a huge commercial success throughout Europe and beyond. However, this would not spell the end for the doom band, as the troops were rallied for one more album through Solititium, Chaos Without Theory, which was sadly almost as neglected as its predecessor. It's not much of a surprise, really, since by this point the market of European metal was really picking up in various categories, with the bigger black, doom and death metal bands making some waves, and many like this project were simply not serious enough to escape falling by the wayside. In fact, very few acts on the Solistitium imprint made much of an impact aside from Behemoth, who later changed their style and became an institution.

At any rate, Chaos Without Theory is a tighter affair than A Bard's Tale, and there is certainly an improvement in Tapio Wilska's presence. Here he ups his game considerably, shifting from the Yearning like groans of the debut to a Finnish likeness of Moonspell's Fernano Ribeiro: doomy, deeper and fully gothed out. Sure enough, it works well, but what of the music itself? Well, this is largely the style of the previous album, thick and simple doom riffs not afraid to kick into a mid pace, with a ton of keyboards layered over the top, but it has also become slightly more technical and fluent in tracks like the thrashing "Dance from Beyond" or the flowing "Liquid Silent Dreams". There are also some driving Gothic/doom metal numbers like "Sadoeroticart" and "Sleep Eternal" which recall Moonspell, Dreadful Shadows, Tiamat and so forth. While these are tolerable, it is the thunderous Arabesque mystique of opener "Sethian Seal" and the pummeling chords of "Chaos Without Theory" that truly stood out to me.

There are also a few slower pieces, namely "In Gothic Archways" and "Sorrow's Shroud" which develop a stronger atmosphere, but almost as a trade off, the vocals in the latter seem to skirt back towards the silliness of the debut, at least temporarily. In general, though, the album's production levels and the majority of Wilska's performance are superior to A Bard's Tale, while the songs just...aren't. The gloomy mood and atmosphere of the debut are somewhat present in the songwriting, but the more professional power of the mix and the general energy the band implements detract ever so slightly from what made that album 'special' in its own, lame but lovable way. Chaos Without Theory is no slouch of a sophomore, but aside from the few songs I enjoy, it all seems to blend together and settle itself into mediocrity, and I never feel compelled to sit through the entire thing like I do the debut (on a rare, rainy day).

This was not necessarily the 'end' for the project, as guitarist Teemu Kautonen would resurrect it as plain Nattvind for an album in 2002, but that had more of a straight Gothic metal feel, and should probably not be considered one and the same with the original incarnation. That album, Subuniverses, is also even more painfully more difficult to find than either Gråt effort, and it wouldn't find any success beyond what the band had already failed to accomplish here. Sad but true: if you were not purchasing a lot of imports or targeting Solistitium releases in particular, it is likely you've never heard of this band. They're not necessarily doomy enough for the doom laden, or Gothic enough for the goths, but they do find an epic balance of the two that mirrors Swedish acts like Lake of Tears or Tiamat in their heyday. I've mentioned the similarities to Yearning a number of times already, but that band's debut With Tragedies Adorn, which came out the very seem year, destroys this record.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10] (he calls them to fulfill their fates)

Nattvindens Gråt - A Bard's Tale (1995)

Solistitium was one of those smaller labels which always managed to produce fascinating, if somewhat forgettable acts for the most part, and Nattvindens Gråt ('Cry of the Night Wind') was one such band. Formed as an ancillary entity to the underrated Finnish black metal act Darkwoods My Betrothed, this was a fairly unique take on heavy/doom metal with fantasy-based lyrics and an epic quality evoked through the use of pianos and keyboards, simple but big riffs, and the mix of clean male and female vocals. The roster was essentially a mash up of Wizzard and Darkwoods My Betrothed personnel, including Tapio Wilska on vocals (he'd later join Finntroll) and Tuomas Holopainen on keyboards, who would see huge success with Nightwish.

For some reason, this debut holds sentimental value to me. I picked it up almost completely at random in a specialty shop the year it was released, and took to it immediately. However, even at that point, I could recognize its most potent flaw: Wilska's clean, deep vocals, which sound like a drunken Finnish friar with one too many in the gullet, singing out his woes in a public forum, begging for spare change to fuel his addiction for another evening. Much of this is likely due to his native accent, but there is no denying the comical effect it casts over the record, especially when joined with the more Kermit the Frog, narrative co-vocals (displayed most prominently in the escalating chorus to "Stormwind the Soothsayer"). About the only person I can really compare the majority of the vocals to would be the late Juhani Palomäki on the earlier Yearning records, but he was a lot better and easier to take seriously.

Here, you'll just have to get past them if you wish to feel involved, because they're pretty goofy on the majority of the tracks. The band also uses a session female vocalist on a number of tunes like "The Echo" and the piano interlude "Towards the Sea", but these are actually suitable to the epic travels of the album's titular 'bard' or 'rider', which provide the lyrical backdrop to this story as he shifts through a number of ancient terrains, against the elements. Acoustic guitars are also applied liberally to tracks like the moody, brooding "Song of the Tide Waves", and Holopainen maintains a presence throughout the entire album, with both scintillating progressive pads and clean pianos.

All of this makes for a rather mesmerizing mix when contrasted with the great power of the guitars, carving out granite with huge, classic rhythms and melodies in "Vagabond's Dusk" or "Skyfires Dance", the latter of which reminds me of Swedes Therion or Tiamat around this time, or perhaps the first two records from Lake of Tears. There are more ambitious tracks like the piano driven epic finale "The Two Oaks", bombastic medieval chorus strewn "The Road Goes Ever On" or the spacious, highly atmospheric tones of "A Lonely October Night", but in all, the album flows rather smoothly through both its calms and aggressive spurts. It does work best when Wilska somehow pulls himself together, as in "The Echo" where he sounds most like the earlier mentioned Yearning, back and forth against the ethereal female vox, but this is sadly not always the case.

By now, A Bard's Tale is but a footnote, and Nattvindens Gråt are a long lost obscurity who are probably rarely listened to outside those few brave souls wishing to explore the backlog of its Nightwish and Finntroll alumni. But for some reason, there is a subtle charm to the album, and its very possible that anyone fond of the mid 90s material from other band's I've name dropped in this review would get something from it. The production is straightforward but wonderful, capturing the potency of the guitars in full and casting some archaic gloom over the compositions, and it's completely listenable today. The only thing holding it back from further praise would be Wilska (who would improve drastically over the years). Once that barrier is crossed, the album becomes rather memorable.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10] (say goodbye to the warm breath of summer)

Myrath - Hope (2007)

After having my mind blown sufficiently by this Tunisian band's sophomore Desert Call earlier this year, I felt it pertinent to track down their 2007 debut and see what I had been missing. Never before had I been exposed to metal of any sort from this particular country, least of all a band who can trump American favorites like Symphony X and about half of Dream Theater's catalog while fully fusing their own cultural perspective as a native influence in their composition. Hope is not quite so powerful as its successor, but it does mold itself around an impressive center-piece, with a number of other tracks also shining through the din of mediocrity to cement a pleasurable listen for fans of power/progressive hybrids.

The center-piece is of course the 11 + minute "Seven Sins" which dominates the core of the album. Here Myrath calmly develop a mystique through both eerie synthesizers, busy bass and an almost doom metal gone progressive wackjob in the guitars. Keyboardist Elyes Bouchoucha's escalating vocals are superb, almost as if he's mixing a little of James Hetfield's earlier edge in with the more melodic voice, and as the track transitions through each phase, delightful surprises await, like the moody breakdown around 4:30, the power metal surge after the lead around 6:00, or the later piano rock sequence after 7:00. A tasteful integration of both ambition and superb musical quality, it's the most powerful individual track found here. There are other lengthy pieces like "Hope" and the finale "My Inner War", the latter of which is bristling with jazzy funk which later develops into some jarring metallic components.

Of the shorter fare, the intro offers Middle Eastern percussion and synthesizers that immerse the listener directly into the rich history of Myrath's region. The muddy deep end grooving guitar tones of "Last Breath" part for some excellent bass playing and an overall ark that feels like Jorn Lande jamming with Symphony X, albeit with a cooler guitar tone than Michael Romeo's. "Fade Away" is the power ballad, slowly cruising from folk to electric, and while its not a favorite of mine here, it's far from bad. "All My Fears" answers this doldrums with angry gang shouting, impressive shredding and intimate energy, though it too is not one of the better songs. "Confession" has its highs and lows, with muddy chugging guitars, Bouchoucha impressive as he conjures a little angst, but the most impressive moments arriving in the Dream Theater-like jam that steals away the song in the bridge.

No, Hope did not leave me salivating quite so much as the follow-up, but clearly its impressive enough in its own right to satisfy progressive metal fans. You can hear the band developing their fusion of ethnic melody and more contemporary tactics that will thrust them into the top tier of this genre's acts, but the songs just don't have the beautiful power of Desert Call. The mix is pristine, the musicianship tight and fluent, and "Seven Sins" alone is worth giving the album a listen, but if you're new to the band I feel you might be better served by the sophomore.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

http://www.myrath.com/

Iron Fire - Metalmorphosized (2010)

I don't know what it is with all the power and traditional metal bands lately, incorporating 'metal' into the album titles. Gamma Ray drops To the Metal. Halford is Made of Metal. Helloween's new single asks "Are You Metal?" Is this some poignant statement? Is it necessary for the kiddies, so they don't mistake this shit for rap music? Or is it just pure laziness? I'm going to lean towards that last option. At any rate, Iron Fire is the latest to jump aboard this sad wave of album title faux pas, with Metalmorphosized, their sixth full length. Arriving at the rise of power metal's popularity in the turn of the century with a debut reminiscent of Running Wild, I don't think there are many who thought the Danish group would survive once the wave broke.

This is primarily due to the voice of Martin Steene, of course, who has quite a set of pipes, but delivers his melodic lines in such nasal force that they often prove more humorous than serious, though the lyrics are anything but the former. Still, Iron Fire have occasionally produced a worthwhile effort in the past decade, such as last year's To the Grave, and Steene's qualified enough that one can just get used to him. Metalmorphosized is a sort of special occasion, a 10 year anniversary since their Thunderstorm debut, so the band have brought back a lot of their former members to guest on tracks. The songs themselves are a mix of new compositions and tracks from the band's career gap between On the Edge (2001) and Revenge (2006), so it is arguably a clean sweep of the stables as much as a novel representation of the band.

The trademarks of German power metal anthems are all present in Iron Fire's sound, with a slight twist of the Finnish scene ala Stratovarius or Sonata Arctica. Steene likes to mix in melodic death grunts or blackish rasps into his more typical, high pitched fare, and this can often create a disconcerted effect which might be functioning as intended. For example, in "The Underworld" they serves as a distraction, where this would otherwise have been an upbeat, excellent track (taken from the band's 2003 demo). In the opener "Reborn to Darkness", the heavier, crushing tones of the riffing, futuristic spin on the synths, and the immediate use of the melodic death vocals tricked me into thinking the band had shifted to a Soilwork style, but soon enough Steene switches into his highs and you're left with a bizarre mix of the two. Normally I'm not opposed to power metal bands incorporating outside influences, since the formula is so rarely deviated from, but I'm not sure I was welcoming of this here.

Still, the majority of tracks here play it safe, like the charging "Back in the Fire", the graceful and grooving "Nightmare", and the ripping glory of "Left for Dead". "Drowning in Blood" and "The Graveyard" are both decent anthems, and the closing "Phantom Symphony" shifts through a number of aggressive and ballad-like segments in its 10 minutes of existence. "Riding Through Hell" takes the band's Running Wild influence to an appreciable level of aggression, and this was perhaps my single favorite track on the album. Unfortunately, aside from this and a few other moments, Metalmorphosized is neither as memorable as its predecessor (which just barely made muster), or much of a standout among superior efforts in the genre.

The mix is great, the riffs heavy, and nothing truly offensive present unless the harsh vocals will turn off the power purist, but as sugary as the songs are written, they feel like the last satisfying pack of bubble gum you purchased. Cheap thrills that last only briefly before they blow up and you spit them into the garbage can. Iron Fire can write a chorus or a solo, or incorporate a thicker grooving tone to the bottom end, but all this is moot when I have no desire to instantly skip back to replay a track, and I found no such inspiration here even after a few complete playthroughs.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

http://www.ironfire.dk/

Halford - IV: Made of Metal (2010)

After the past two mediocre Judas Priest albums Nostradamus and Angel of Retribution, and the only marginally entertaining Christmas album Rob released last year, I have to admit that I was not quite excited for his next true, original-loaded solo venture. Then, when the single for "The Mower" dropped, I was even further perplexed, for it featured Rob's Painkiller era screaming over some extremely weak, chugging riffs that did absolutely nothing of note. Fast forward a few months, and you can see the terrible cover art to his latest album, Made of Metal. Yes, by this point, expectations were not running high at all! But, you see, Halford is just one of those folks one should NEVER count out, because lo and behold, this new record is the strongest he's done since his first solo under the Halford moniker, Resurrection, trumping Crucible in the overall songwriting.

Yes, Made of Metal is far better than it has any right to be, especially when you consider this man's age. But his vocals are still on top, conjuring up a performance here that should prove a thrill to fans of his 80s work like Turbo, Defenders of the Faith and all leading up to the amazing Painkiller. This is also a fairly diverse album, with Rob trying his hand at new subjects and slight tweaks to the formula he's been a part of for nigh on 30 years. You've got your more modern power metal with NWOBHM roots, namely "Fire and Ice" with its descending, gorgeous slopes of melody, and then a number of pure old school Priest-like pieces via "Speed of Sound", "Hell Razor", "We Own the Night" and two of the strongest songs the man has written in forever, "Like There's No Tomorrow" and the "Breaking the Law"-like "Matador", the latter showing him in extremely strong form vocally, arguably the equal of anything in his career, with hard as hell drumming courtesy of veteran Bobby Jarzombek.

The whole band turns in an amazing performance here, with Metal Mike Chlasciak and Roy Z ousting their prior lead work on Resurrection and Crucible, and Mike Davis throwing it all down with his steady, powerful plucking. The solos are all well written, adding interesting aspects to the songs that go above and beyond a mere formulaic acknowledgment of the rhythms beneath. This is especially true of "Matador" or the arena metal anthem "Thunder and Lightning". There are very few songs on this album I would kick out of bed for crackers. Strike that, only one. And if you were paying attention, you'll know exactly which I mean. Thankfully, "The Mower" is tacked on to the end of the album, almost as if Halford & company saw the reactions from the early release and realized it was not the single they might have been expecting. But alas, it still remains, a stain of poison in an otherwise pure, delicious apple. A few of the other tracks suffer lyrically, like the ballad "Twenty-Five Years", the metal boxing anthem "Undisputed" and the goofy but lovable robot alien sci-fi schlock of "Made of Metal" itself, which...sort of addresses the cover image?!

The Made of Metal mix is quite superb, and perhaps this is one of the reason's Rob sounds so good. He literally soars across the metalscape, but not at the expensive of the instruments. The rhythm guitars are given excellent crunch, the melodies ringing off beautifully into the night, and the drums are loud, clear, and forceful. Like the latest from Accept, or Saxon's excellent streak through the late 90s to the present, it's an album that enforces the cliche of 'old dogs with new tricks'. Surely, Halford is paying tribute to his own career, but this is once again about getting with the times, without losing what made you so important in the first place. My hat is off to this living metal deity, now if only he could convince Priest to write something worthwhile...it has been far too long.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

http://www.robhalford.com/madeofmetal/

October Tide - A Thin Shell (2010)

13 years have passed since October Tide's monumental melodic death/doom debut Rain Without End, and in the interim, the duo of Jonas Renkse and Fredrik Norrman have gone on to a huge career with their primary band Katatonia. Ironically, Norrman and his brother just quit in the winter of 2009, after the release of the excellent Night is the New Day, so decided to focus his efforts on getting this band back on its feet from its decade long slumber. Of course, he'll be doing it without Jonas Renkse this time, who remains in Katatonia. Nor is he doing this with Mårten Hansen, who replaced Jonas for the barely passable sophomore Grey Dawn in 1999.

Actually, the entire lineup, with the exception of Fredrik Norrman, is new to October Tide, if not new to the Swedish scene in general. Tobias Netzell of In Mourning handles the growling, and does a pretty smash up job of it, channeling the deep and full grunts of Renkse on the debut. Drummer Robin Bergh has been brought over from Amaran, Emil Alstermark on the second guitar, and session bass for A Thin Shell is provided by Jonas Kjellgren of Scar Symmetry, Centinex, and several other noted Swedish bands. Thankfully, the band heads straight back to the source of their initial momentum, the slow paced, beautiful melodies of Rain Without End. Grey Dawn, which was not a terrible album, but a dive down in quality, is ignored completely. This is to the band's advantage, as that sophomore was not held in very esteem, and if October Tide is bent on becoming a full time act as opposed to its initial Katatonia side project status, they should be providing their best doomed leg forward.

Like the debut, there are but seven compositions here, and all are solid, though I've developed a preference for the latter half of the album. "A Custodian of Science" comes out gunning with the unmovable chords and sailing melodies of Rain Without End, as if an apology for those years of absence, but it never quite develops any truly sticking riffs. Nevertheless, it's a tasteful balance of calm, clean guitars and roiling bass with crashing walls of melody, and certainly true to the band's M.O. "Deplorable Request" saunters along even more slowly, descending lines tailing off in the blunt chords, a little chugging for heaviness and a warmth in the note selection that merges well with Netzell's growling, joined here by a second, snarling vocal. "The Nighttime Project" is mellow and frightening, the best track up to this point, an instrumental with some memorable guitar lines that leads into the lurching "Blackness Devours", which surprisingly seems to have a little bit of stoner doom shoved into its lead-in groove.

Deeper still, "The Diving Line" provides a crash course in what made a Rain Without End or Katatonia's Brave Murder Day so divine, pretty much the perfect selection of notes, distant, echoed melodies dancing off against the elegance and power, and I adore the bridge riff here as it transforms from beautiful to eerie. "Fragile" returns to a lurching gait, but the chords are captivating, the leads just icing on the cake as it picks up to majestic, crashing heights, Netzell the very match of Renkse on the debut, if not better. "Scorned" closes the album as its most moody offering, guitars transforms sparse sheens of sonic, depressive rain while the beat rocks off minimally into the depth of ages, as if your lens were being slowly pulled away from the glass autumn globe on the cover as the winds of time begin to erase all happiness. Not the best song here, but a fitting finale to a fairly impressive return to form.

A Thin Shell allows us to forget the past decade, and perhaps even to forget Grey Dawn, because it's the natural sequel to Rain Without End that a lot of fans likely desired. It's certainly not as riffy as that debut, or rather, the guitars are not quite so strong, but the wonderful production creates a new depth to the procession which makes it emotionally potent. I often find myself drifting off to a lot of the melodic death/doom acts, and not in a good way. The same can be said for certain moments of this album, perhaps a part of "Scorned" or "Blackness Devours", but the rest serves as an attention holding lamentation. "The Nighttime Project", "The Dividing Line" and "Fragile" are the only true standouts, but as a whole it does not disappoint those who have been patient for its arrival.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

http://octobertide.net/

Flesh Consumed - Ecliptic Dimensions of Suffering (2010)

It almost seems unfair that California is producing so many of these sorts of technical, brutal death metal bands in the 21st century, tilting the nation into a lopsided plain of brutality. Granted, the style is not for everyone, and dissenters who disdain any material which sounds as if it were created post-1993 are unlikely to have a change of heart here, but I rather enjoy the work of Severed Savior, The Faceless, Decrepit Birth, Odious Mortem, Inherit Disease and so forth. Flesh Consumed fits right into this pattern, another talented bunch of maniacs whose visceral apple doesn't fall far from the tree of entrails, conjuring a brand of polished brutality that delights in lobotomizing the skull with whirls of technical shredding in between drawn out passages of slamming rhythms and terrifyingly brutal drum work.

If you were to trace the band's roots back, further, of course you'd arrive at the usual suspects of Deicide, Suffocation, Gorguts, Cryptopsy, Cannibal Corpse and Morbid Angel, all via Deeds of Flesh, a band that also seems to have influenced many of these fresher acts. The members all have experience with other small time underground acts like Vaginal Discharge, Lacerated and Eviscerated, with drummer Ron Casey also serving double duty in the more technically intense (but less interesting) Brain Drill. Casey is as much a beast here as that other project, his feet and wrists constantly hammering each thrilling blast, honing each slower, stomp rhythm with added complexity. Vocalist Corey Athos has the stock bark down, and the guitarists are both well versed in the genre to offer constantly shifting panoramas of extremity that do not dull the attention when listening.

The band is at their best when busiest, with winding monstrosities like "Immortality Through Infinite Consciousness" and "Caverns of the Disembodied", which keep the mind attached as they explore a wide variety of intricate riffs and cavernous, claustrophobic horrors. There is enough of a groove element to satisfy the slam-death enthusiast, but the band are never quite so simple, so if you're not enamored of intense barrages of guitar work as in modern Cannibal Corpse or Decrepit Birth, you might seek your grisly entertainment elsewhere. I liked the strange interludes performed, like the guttural spoken word of "Forever Chained", warped guitars of "Valleys of Rust" and the eerie, scattershot ambiance of "Doomed", and it might be interesting to hear these elements incorporated more directly into the songs, but Flesh Consumed fire on most cylinders here, and even the crudest ass stompings like "Interspecific Coalesce" and "Chamber of Torture" deliver the goods. There are also a few guest spots from Luc Lemay (Gorguts) and Erik Lindmark (Deeds of Flesh) on vocals, and Craig Peters of the similar Arkaik contributes a solo.

Ecliptic Dimensions of Suffering is more of the same, at least if you've been following this style now for the nearly two decades it has been made manifest. I mean, ask me as a teen if I ever would have thought fare this extreme would become 'garden variety', and I would have looked at you with astonishment. But at the least it's well written and entertaining, if you can shut out the fact that the music is largely interchangeable with any number of similar acts. Modern death metal has become a contest of riffing patterns, technical marvel and otherworldly atmosphere and lyrics, all of which Flesh Consumed do offer here, if not as far out on the spectrum as several of their peers. This is easily an album I'd turn to when seeking out this brand of Californian brutality, with intricate riffing aplomb, so it's worth a listen and probably a purchase if you're down with the band's peers.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

http://www.fleshconsumed.com/

Mutiny Within - Mutiny Within (2010)

Mutiny Within is just the latest in an ever increasing cycle of trend bands signed by a label like Roadrunner Records in their unending, desperate appeal to the masses, and the almighty dollar sign. Though the band itself was formed in 2002, and cranked out a number of demos since, they have ultimately arrived at the same metal lite, disposable platform of the artists they emulate: Killswitch Engage, God Forbid, The Black Dahlia Murder, All That Remains, etc. You'll also hear the clear nods to In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, and even a little Nevermore here in the thrashing, modern technique of the guitars and one of Chris Clancy's myriad vocal personalities, but it seems every time this New Jersey outfit has the head pumping along in appreciation, it seems as if they are contractually bound to poop all over themselves and fuck it up...

Let me make this clear: if Mutiny Within cut out about 25% of the elements found on this album (the trendy, weak ones) you would have a competent if forgettable onslaught of modern melodic death/thrash which would have Nevermore and Soilwork fans touching themselves in all manner of fond places. However, that is simply not the case, and the excellent lead efforts and versatility of the riffing and keyboards seem to be lost here, yet another album that all the MySpace fans will forget come next Saturday when the next hot ticket arrives at the Hot Topic. It's really a shame, because if you look at the band's history, numerous line-up changes, it is clear that these are folks who have persisted at their career...only to arrive at this?!

First off, the vocals are far too schizoid. Not schizoid in that they sound entertainingly insane, but schizoid in that Chris Clancy takes too many styles on a test drive. He must literally be using a dozen different voices on this album, including heinous Good Charlotte, My Chemical Romance radio rock chorus style and some of the worst US metalcore growls I've ever heard. He needs to pick a few and just stick with them, because its incredibly fucking distracting. For example, on the song "Falling Forever", he proves he would have a pretty good power/prog metal voice, with a little bit of constipation in there that hints at decent anger. But even here he botches it up with throwaway melodic radio chorus parts. Is this American Fucking Idol? Are you Chris Daughty or Adam Lambert? Or both? in "Images", he lays on harmonies with himself, but sadly these are undermined by the really generic metalcore barks. The tragedy is that the man can actually sing, and I wish he'd pick a straight up, bad ass metal voice and stick to it.

Next, the music itself, while undeniably competent (especially the guitars) is the kind that is too quickly forgotten on contact. They know how to carve out a melodic outbreak that feels soothing and pleasant to the ear while being a strenuous exercise on their hands, i.e. "Images" or "Undone", the latter of which seems like a modern Dark Tranquillity track. These guys are far better riffers than peers like Killswitch Engage and the all too sucky In This Moment, but aside from that cheap and brief uplift you feel when you turn on the radio and hear the latest pop-punk sensation, there is just no one home. I feel like a little more inherent darkness and anger would do the band good, not just through mosh rhythms or anything like that, but carry those Gothenburg influences or the Nevermore-like riffing to its logical end, aggression, instead of making 'light' and 'pretty' with every damned song on the album. "Suffocate" is an example of a positive direction, a track that might have fit on This Godless Endeavor or Enemies of Reality, with cyclic, complex riffing and a few of the less annoying vocals on the album (though even this suffers from the radio syndrome).

There is a lot of talent hiding under the trendy facade of this band, if only it could be harnessed in a direction that wouldn't immediately escape the memory five minutes after impact. If they could cut out the disease of wanting to be 'big' and 'offer something for everyone' including the 14 year old schoolgirls that must think they are the hottest thing since Rose Funeral, then we might be onto a killer band. I'd like to hear Mutiny Within write a straight power/prog or melodic death metal album and kick some ass, because I've no doubt they could contribute to the growth and persistence of metal music rather than fall into the desperate cash grabbing of poseurs while the going is hot. I threw up in my mouth at least once per track here, and my teeth and tongue are as unhappy as my ears.

Verdict: Fail [2.5/10]

http://www.myspace.com/mutinywithin

Martriden - The Unsettling Dark (2008)

After the band's Martriden EP, there was no doubt a feeding frenzy of interest due to their highly professional, polished pedigree of the Montana band, and thus it is no surprise that Candlelight Records licensed the band's debut full-length album from Siege of Amida for release in the North American territories. The Unsettling Dark is a direct continuation of the musical ideas put forth on the prior EP, so you can expect a lot of unhallowed, massive atmosphere affixed to the primal battering of the drums and rhythm guitars that tend towards the more basal, chugging elements of the spectrum. This atmosphere arrives in both the near constant use of synthesizers against the backdrop, and the melodies shot off across the bough of the moshing torment.

This also marks the beginning of Martriden's fixation with conceptual themes that run though the course of their albums. Here, of course, we are dealing with fate, death and purgatory, while the later (and somewhat better) Encounter the Monolith deals with more cosmic proportions. Don't let the beautiful, spectral female figure gracing the cover fool you for too long, this is a harrowing, pummeling affair offering a lot of broken and bruised limbs to those who decide to explore it in the local pit. But let's not sell it short, it is better written than the previous EP and the band are by no means a one trick pony, just as high on creating an atmospheric whole as they are kicking your ass back into the Montana woodlands from which their creative impetus erupted...

...and kick your ass they will, once the morose intro piece passes into the gloom, all octave chords spanned over chugging, a discordant tail chord quickly ceding to the neck breaking rhythms that inaugurate "The Enigma of Fate". Choppy, convoluted thrashing melodies and walls of mesmeric torment characterize the next 5:30 minutes, the band almost decided to leave nothing of you left to experience the rest of the album. I can't say most of the riffs here are individually thrilling, but as a whole they deliver the Martriden experience pretty seriously, and fit flush with the next track, "The Calling", which is nearly as punishing, though slightly more atmospheric, with a fine melodic bridge to it. The two-parter "Ascension" first offers an escalating juggernaut, the most progressive piece on the album thus far, and then a mellow but climbing instrumental second half that becomes quite immersive when the chords begin to charge. Ascension, indeed.

At this point, it's back to the bone breaking, "Processional for the Hellfire Chariot", which opens like a heavier, crushing Testament and then dissolves into a chugging, squealing morass sure to snap any limbs left over from the first few tracks. "The Unsettling Dark" bounces back to calm, its intro segment beautiful and lush with the ringing synthesizers and well constructed clean guitars...this is, of course, not going to last, and within a minute they'll be laying out the biggest smackdown of the album, in which I'd consider my favorite song here. "Prelude" and "A Season in Hell" also deliver the formula tastefully, the former a dreadnought of dementia, the latter eclipsing its big grooves with transcendent keyboard-driven atmospheres and bouncing, curiously thick thrashing fervor. The finale, acoustic instrumental "Immaculate Perception" incorporates some Rachmaninoff into its blissful awakening, like rising from a bad dream.

The Unsettling Dark is more than appropriate as a debut album, building upon the fragments of potential that characterized the EP before it. The individual riffs are better, and it better regulates the balance of brute, storming momentum and periods of frightening calm. Again, Martriden is a very accessible brand of extreme metal, in both the production values and the actual composition. You will not find infinite layers of complexity, much of the material just hammers you up front. That is not to marginalize the proficiency of the band, each player here is taut and excellent, but they rein themselves in far more than, say, your average frenzied West Coast modern USDM band. The album is not short on ambition, even though its individual elements might seem familiar when deconstructed, and thus it is well worth hearing.

Verdict: Win [8/10] (the path burned into my eyes)

http://www.martridenrocks.com/

Martriden - Martriden EP (2006)

Martriden is one of the better up and coming bands out of Midwest America, performing a delicious mix of melodic black and death metal with a tasteful penchant for grooves that never grow tired upon the conscience like so many of the awful metalcore and deathcore bands our country is spitting forth this past decade. It's also a little hard to pin their sound down. Surely you'll hear a little of Emperor in their sweeping overtures and sweeping leads, with a bit of Morbid Angel or Deicide in the vocal delivery, but the band's slow and rolling momentum conjures a dread majesty over brick house chugging not unlike Fear Factory or Meshuggah. The real strength is to capture these various elements and then from them, craft potent songs that each stand on their own and offer rewards on multiple listens through.

The band also benefits from enormous production values that put most professional, better known artists to shame. Even as far back as this s/t debut EP, the guitar tones are perfectly thick and bruising, the leads cutting straight through, the rhythm section present and powerful, and the barking vocals mixed just above the primal force that powers the band. These are not complex compositions by any means, but the band delights in just the proper balance of melody and brutality to capture the ear and not let go despite some of the tracks being 7 minutes plus. Martriden features four tracks not available on the later, greater albums (The Unsettling Dark and Encounter the Monolith), so it's well worth hunting down through Siege of Amida for that reason.

"Blank Eye Stare" creates steady bombast with the double bass and darkly escalating guitars, streams of melodic chords ringing out against the thrashing fist of the rhythms, like a pendulum of punishment. There's an acoustic segue serving as centerpiece here, gloriously executed like something In Flames might have done back in their heyday of the mid 90s, with some fine double leads. "The Art of Death Infernal" opens like a more aggressive Death, proceeding into a killer old school death metal drive in the verse, drums thundering below with a churning stride, while "In Death We Burn" incorporates tasteful melodeath guitars into perhaps the most memorable and satisfying piece on the EP, if you don't mind this style. "Set a Fire In Our Flesh" opens with a calming segment of bluesy guitars and atmosphere before the pendulum returns, circular riffing that can stir madness from within the listener as the double bass rolls below, plus a pretty sweet riff at 1:30 beneath the keyboard.

As a demo or debut EP, Martriden is quite exemplary, with sound quality that should have immediately stirred the interest of labels and fans alike. I wouldn't number these compositions among their very best. They go down smoothly, with suitable force, but there are certain individual riffs here that seem a little dated or familiar due to their similarities with bigger groove metal acts. However, the Montana band deserves credit for dressing these elements into a sustainable medium, never fickle or quite forgettable, and its great to see how they expand upon this process over the upcoming albums. Martriden is by all means a 'modern' metal band. They don't dwell in the 70s or 80s, taking only rudimentary queues from the 90s, so those who wouldn't touch a Meshuggah, Gojira, Daath, Mnemic, or the more modern works from Morbid Angel, Nile and Fear Factory might be put off by the clarity and general accessibility of the content, but this is nevertheless a fine introduction to a fine act.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10] (not if death will take me first)

http://www.martridenrocks.com/