Getting this CD gave be a huge injection of nostalgia. No not because of the primitive art on the cover or the music, but because the top right hand corner is cut off. In my youth we used to haunt market stalls looking for the rare imports and most of them had the corner cut off – they were returns and marked as such so they couldn’t be resold. As if. Got some killer stuff though and some without the mutilation.
“He’s stalling isnt he?”
Yeah, just a bit.
Fins Advent Of Fire used to be a black metal covers band but decided to be an original melodic-ish death metal band. Was it a good move?
Things start off promising with a nice intro and chanted vocals but the initial riff on the title track is a little, well, generic. The vocals are pretty good, that Finnish gargled snarl in a pounding percussive style. The problem is that, well that’s about it really. Its enthusiastic, the production is OK and they can play. But there are no hooks, no perfectly punishing riffs or raw melodic runs to snatch at you. And this is pretty much how it continues. Yes, there are moments, snatches, where they speed up and ditch the chug and howl into the wind. But they are snatches.
Now I do tend to like both old school brutal death and the odd spot of the more melodic tinged style but here I truly struggled I’m afraid. All very competent but nothing to keep my brain from wandering badly I’m afraid.
Then we get to the bonus tracks. ‘Tonttu’ has a quiet acoustic lullaby-esque intro that is utterly shattered by a scream and we’re securely in melodic black metal territory. It’s actually a fair bit more charismatic that what comes before, a kind of folky lullaby with menacing mid pace. Not bad actually.
Which is more than can be said for the horrible cover of ‘Heaven And Hell’. Sorry but removing the grandeur of the original with a chugging death metal riff and death vocals doesn’t work on any level for me. This is a song of melancholy and reflection and this has none of that. Sorry.
Ah it is what it is. Pretty generic death metal with melodic touches played by guys clearly into it. It’s a pass from me.
(4/10 Gizmo)
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