It was a pleasure first of all to come across something on Scarlet Records, a long- standing label which brought pleasure to me in the past through such bands as Stormlord, Hatesphere and Disarmonia Mundi. This latest offering is From Thy Kingdom Will Burn, a Finnish melodic death metal band who’ve been going for 5 years and now release their first full album. While on the theme of name-dropping other bands, it is said that this album is for fans of Sentenced, Dark Tranquillity, Insomnium, Ensiferum and Omnium Gatherum, which is an impressive collection of bands. Now to find out if Thy Kingdom Will Burn’s self-titled album is impressive.

After a slow burning dramatic build up, a persistent Finnish sounding riff strikes up. Allow me to add Mors Principium Est to the above list of soundalikes. “Alone I Stand” has a decent rhythm, features plenty of melodic death metal and rumbles along nicely but doesn’t really fill the air with intensity. The growly vocalist frantically does his thing on the death metally bouncy “Follow the Fallen” but at times sounds like an animal in pain. “Not a day goes by without news of the worst kind, after joy there’s always pain it’s getting more and more insane” goes the crass cleanly sung chorus. The delivery had shades of Monty Python. All in all it doesn’t work very well as a song. It was when I was listening to “The Black River” that it occurred to me that that chorus may have been representing warriors in the forest by open fires in nature. Or maybe not. This self-titled album grinds through the gears of melody and death metal sounds while being innocuous and not quite cuddly, but certainly confusing.

The next cliché is the sound of the howling wolf. So, begins “In Company of Wolves” – hell no. The twisting technicality is reminiscent of Omnium Gatherum. The growls have a bit more passion about them, and there are a few moments of rising drama so things are looking up a bit. “Unclean” has moments of hard rock hardcore, but it’s far better when it’s driven along by the riff and the guitar work. The drum work is solid too. With more power, this song could be anthemic, and I do wonder if this comes across better when in live format. A bit of bombast does no harm, and such is the beginning of “Through the Storm”. Unfortunately, it slows down and transforms into a painful death metal ballad. There’s a nice bit of acoustic work but it’s all too short before we return to the vocally challenged lament. “War!” predictably starts with the sound of battle. Pumping out “War” as the opening lyric gives a further indication. “Step outside your comfort zone” advises the growler. I can’t work out if Thy Kingdom Will Burn have done this in creating this album by enhancing conventional melodic death metal with the anthemic choruses and vocal pain, but it just doesn’t add up. It certainly doesn’t add up to anything spine-chilling or invigorating. “Season of Sorrow” starts with a heavy tinge of dark atmosphere but this seven minute song once again fails to rise to the heights and lacks what I suspect was the intended epic effect in spite of the pounding drums and skilful guitar work.

It’s fair to say that this album disappointed me. There’s a place for technically inclined melodic death metal, and I have no beef with the instrumental side of this, but the mix is confusing and the songs lacked impact and excitement.

(4/10 Andrew Doherty)

https://www.facebook.com/thykingdomwillburn

https://scarletrecords.bandcamp.com/album/thy-kingdom-will-burn