Album Review: Denigrate - Hollowpoint - 2015

Genre: Gothic Metal/Dark Metal

County: Finland

Year: 2015

Tracklist:

1. Engraved and Hellbound
2. Am I Facing Hell
3. Erased Pagesl
4. Death Reflection 

5. My Corrupted Sou
6. Liar 

7. Taken Away
8. Into Demise
9. Meitä ei enää ole

Twelve years have passed since Denigrate released its first and, up to now, only studio album. At the time when “Dismal Euphoria” was released, in 2003, bands like Sentence, HIM, Charon and To/Die/For were a lot more popular than they are today. They were part of a today decayed Gothic Metal subgenre, and of a special time in the music history. One of those bands was Denigrate, a Finnish musical group that managed to stand out briefly thanks to its first album. Their musical style was clearly influenced by those bands, mostly by Sentenced, but they also managed to innovate. “Dismal Euphoria” was, and still is, an outstanding work that every metal fan should listen to. That’s why, “Hollowpoint”, is surely one of the most expected albums for those who had the good luck to listen to that first album many years ago.

For those ones who were eager to listen to a new release from Denigrate, there is good and bad news. The good one is that this is a good album, with plenty of new and interesting ideas; the bad one is that, sometimes, it moves far away from that old Gothic Metal style we were talking about, what may be a serious letdown to some people. Either way, it's hard to say if this is, or is not, a better compilation than "Dismal Euphoria". Both albums differ in style, sometimes so substantially that it may be hard to see them as part of a same band's discography. It's safer to say that this is a unique release, and then it can't be successful compared with any other.

The occasional use of harsh vocals, Doom/Dark-Metal-like tunes, and different musical styles make of this release an entertaining, interesting and original one. Because of the many different styles it contains, this work can surely please a wide array of metal and pop listeners. The absence of heavy riffs may however be a serious drawback to some metal heads, specially for those who enjoyed songs like "Exit The Lake Suicide" or "The Romance". For the most part, the strength shown in the first album is gone but, in its place, Denigrate has put original melodies. For example, in songs like “Meitä Ei Enää Ole”, the band's link with Rapture (a Finnish Dark/Gothic Metal band) is obvious.

Throughout just nine songs Denigrate succeeds in delivering a nice amount of different and strong experiences. There is no need of 9+ pieces if they're shit. If you remember albums like "Ride The Lightning", you know that 8 songs may suffice if they are good enough. Still, the album length is acceptable, it plays for 47:05, which is in the average. It's composed only by full length songs (no intro or whatsoever) but serving some of them as pace changers. The opening, middle and closing tracks are the right ones to form what you may see as a sine wave.

We were quite impressed by the overall album structure since it delivers a great sense of progression. From the first to the last track, the band draws a path downwards a dark atmosphere, what one can easily perceive through the increasingly often use of darker tunes and harsh vocals. Within that path, every song feels different from the other, having each one distinctive elements like tempo, riffs, vocals and even musical style. It's refreshing to find this kind of release where one can actually identify each track not only by its lyrics. Every piece feels unique up to the point where one could think this is VA compilation. Let’s talk a little about them.

The first track is a good one but it also doesn't feel like a Denigrate's song. It retains most of the old gothic metal style we were talking about earlier, but it ditches most of the band own style. It was the only single release ahead of the album, and a good choice for that thanks to its neutral style (somewhere between the Pop and Metal worlds). Compared to the others, this is the album's most genetic track. The second song replicates those two styles but innovating at some point. It could have perfectly be part of "Dismal Euphoria". This is a great song that will surely please old fans and new comers alike.

The next song "Erased Pages", not only has a different vocalist but also it includes some harsh vocals for the first time in the band's history. We didn't like the guest singer clean vocals but the harsh vocals are awesome. The band's link with Rapture starts to show up.

The next track marks the end of the album's first part with one of the most boring composition the band has ever shown. It could be paralleled with "Guardian (Of The Bitter Sea)" from the previous album, as they share similar tunes, album place and rhythm. 

"My Corrupted Soul" is right at the middle of this compilation and marks a new peak in it. At this point, one can start to see the album structure as a sine wave where the opening, middle and closing tracks form peaks and, songs like the previous and the following one ("Liar"), valleys. This sine form works very well here, marking, along with the different composition styles, good pace changes and preventing the listener to get bored or lost while listening to the album.

"Taken Away" is one of our favorites pieces. It feels like a mix of Gothic, Doom and Dark Metal that will surely blow your mind away. With this song and the album's last one, "Meitä Ei Enää Ole", Denigrate gets very into Dark Metal. Yes, they are very different from the band's gothic metal style, but they are also some of the band's best songs ever released. "Meitä Ei Enää Ole" is a great closing-track.

The audio is maybe the lowest point in this album. It's not the worst we've heard, for sure, but it's not to be praised either. The loudness is ok, and there is a decent separation between instruments. However, there is almost no contrast, making the audio feel rather bland. It's a step down from the crispier and pounding sound of "Dismal Euphoria".

In sum, Denigrate's return is more than welcome. The band blends different musical styles throughout the album and into each song, resulting in a varied, consistent and appealing compilation. From the bright tunes of the first song, to the dark and melancholic melodies of the last one, this work is awesome. We truly hope this work reaches a lot of people and we would love to hear more from this reborn band. They have done an outstanding job this far, and it seems there is more to them to delight the world. These twelve years have not passed in vain.

Rating: 8/10

Album review: To/Die/For - Cult - 2015

Genre: Gothic Metal
Country: Finland
Year: 2015

1 - In black
2 - Screaming birds
3 - Unknown III
4 - Mere dream
5 - You
6 - Straight up
7 - Let it bleed
8 - End of tears
9 - Dying embers (Demo)

After 4 long years, the iconic Gothic Metal band To/Die/For releases its seventh studio album. It is one of the most anticipated works for this year 2015. Right up I want to say that this is a good album, and a lot better than the previous crapy one “Samsara”. So, if you haven’t already, give it a chance and listen to it.

Before going any further, let me get this clear, the style and brilliance from the first three albums is forever gone, and it won’t comeback. Those are the best albums in this band’s life and that’s how is going to forever be. It’s better to deal with this facts right away to not make too big expectations and to allow us to appreciate this new release by its own merits.

So, this new work comes after “Samsara”, which was just a mediocre album. The band has been struggling hard since their fourth album “IV” to achieve the high standards of the first ones, but they have not succeeded in that task. This time they might have got the closest possible. 

The albums has only 8 songs, plus a bonus track, making a total play time of 41:47. That’s a bit less that what one could expect from any LP album. This is a letdown, of course. But quality is what really matters… however this work is of a mediocre one. Strangely, the albums doesn’t pack the single “Dear Delirium”, released in 2014, which is a shame because it’s a good piece, even better than others included in this work. For the price of almost 15 euros, the content is too scarce and too mediocre. 

The version that I’m reviewing here comes with a bonus track. It’s “Dying Embers”, in its Demo 2001 version. It was a good choice for a bonus track. Even though it is a known song, this version is very different from the one released in Jaded. It is a different song, indeed, that everyone would be happy to have and listen. The remastering process was good enough to give an extra added value to the piece.

The album hasn’t any intro or coda, but what it has is a kind of interlude of about 2:35, titled “Mere Dream”. It’s hard to call it a song, not just because of its length, but also because of its lack of any depth and identity. It just serves as a kind of link between “Unknown III” and “You”.

The first two songs are the best ones. For sure, that’s why they were chosen by the band as singles. From there, it’s downwards. The third track, “Unknown III”, pretends to be a sequel of two excellent songs from the albums “Epilogue” and “Jaded”. However, besides the name (without “The”), it’s hard to link this new track with the previous ones, just because they are so different in both composition and quality. It’s almost a disrespect towards them. Surprisingly (in a bad way), this album version of “Unknown III” is much worse than the demo version released some years ago. By the way, you can listen to it for free here. 

The fourth song is “Mere Dreams”. As said before, it’s just an interlude that doesn’t shine in any way, thus there is not more to say about it. The piano tune from the fifth Track, “You”, reminds maybe too much to a Crematory’s song titled “The Fallen”. Just listen to them both and surely you’ll see the resemblance. “You” is by far from being a great song but it’s good enough to listen to it a couple of times. The cover of the song “Straight Up”, from Paula Abdul, is not as good as the original one, and it feels like a big missed opportunity. The female vocals in this track add a little spice, but nothing too remarkable. The next song is “Let it Bleed”. It doesn’t bring anything new or especially memorable. Finally, the last song “End of Tears” is the weakest point in this compilation (besides the interlude) and really makes you wonder “what they were thinking”.

The sound is acceptable but nothing more than that. The drums are lacking presence and the guitars seem not powerful enough. It feels just bland and unimpressive, even though the mixing processes was good enough to reach the due volume level and sound separation. The audio quality shown in “Epilogue From The Past”, five years ago, is a lot better.

Even with its highs and lows, this work is a good one. Not brilliant, not superb, not bad, not shit.

Rating: 6/10

Album review: Sirenia - The Seventh Life Path - 2015

Genre: Symphonic Gothic Metal
Counntry: Norway
Year: 2015

Tracklist:

1. Seti
2. Serpent
3. Once My Light
4. Elixir
5. Sons Of The North
6. Earendel
7. Concealed Disdain
8. Insania
9. Contemptuous Quitus
10. The Silver Eye
11. Tragedienne
12. Tragica" (Tragedienne Spanish Version- Bonus Track)

“The Seventh Life Path”, is, well… the seventh Sirenia’s studio album, and the one we are going to review right now, in its Limited Edition format. 

It is priced today at $11.99 at Amazon.com and at 13,99 € at Napalm Records. This seem to be a fair price for an album just released and more than ok if you consider its content. 

The compilation is extraordinary lengthy. It has twelve songs (included a bonus track), where one of them is an intro, but a total play time of more than one hour and ten minutes. That’s a big amount of content for any LP album. That would be great if it also were of acceptable quality or more than acceptable… And it is! Indeed, it is superb. Behold one of the best albums this band has ever conceived! 

For better or worse, the band’s style has changed, of course, since their debut album in 2002. Strangely (not really), the biggest change coincided with the same album which Sirenia debuted in Nuclear Blast Records. “Nine Destinies And A Downfall” is a good album but a very different one from its two predecessors. It has a closer approach to the pop genre and so it dropped most of the Death Metal elements. Strangely again (seriously, not really), with “The Seventh Life Path”, the band has returned to its birthplace, Napalm Records, and, at the same time, to its old style, at least partially. So, it’s great to have them back to where they can do what they like, the way they like. 

By listening to the album firsts minutes, this change I’m talking about, is perceived right away. Back are the Death Metal vocals, back are the heavy riffs, back is the dark atmosphere, and back is Sirenia. This release is very close to the Gothic Death Metal the band exhibited in their first albums, but it also retains some of the essence of the last ones. Thus, this work blends the best of two different styles. Being fair, we can say that this album has some of the best of Sirenia. 

As said before, the harsh vocals are back, and the riffs that come with them. It’s good to have them back with more relevance and not as a bridge-only-instrument. In a couple of songs they don’t appear at all, but in the others they have, more or less, the same importance as the female clean vocals. However, they are used in the riffs only, being the choruses reserved for Ailyn. 

The novelty is also a big positive part. The band has maintained its particular style almost intact. Since “Nine Destinies And A Downfall”, it has suffered some variation obviously, but not at its core. Fortunately for us, this work brings some original elements. Which ones? I won’t tell you! But, besides the inclusion for the first time of an intro piece, they seem obvious in songs like “Elixir”, “The Silver Eye”, and throughout the album. The composition now feels richer than ever and entertaining. 

About the audio, I have to say it’s a refined version of the one used in the previous release. Still it is flat enough to let every instrument be heard, but this time it gives also the right and due relevance to some instruments, at the right time. As a consequence, the drums now sound deeper and more defined, the guitars more powerful and the vocals clearer.

In sum, a great work. Let’s hope the group stays in this path.

Rating: 8/10

Album review: Ideogram - Life Mimics Theatre - 2015

Genre: Gothic Death Metal

Country: Italy

Year: 2015

Tracklist:

1. Life Is Pregnant of Death
2. The Art of Bleeding
3. Evil (in Her Hands)
4. Falling Snow
5. Trembling Hands
6. Geisha for My Demons
7. Invisible Again
8. Reflections
9. Rain of Stars
10. I Am Candle
11. In a Cobalt Ocean
12. Death Is Pregnant of Life

The Gothic and Death Metal genres are some of the oldest Metal subgenres, and thus, they are very worn. In fact, it's hard to find something truly innovative in any composition, almost everything is already done and written. But what’s really disturbing is the lack of good ideas in new releases. That's why this debut work from ideogram deserves special mention. It’s not truly original, but it’s truly exceptional.

In this work, the melodic style, can be attributed to Gothic Metal rather than to Melodic Death Metal. It would be forced to say that there is a Melodic Death Metal here, at least in a predominant way. Just a few riffs can be attributed to that genre. Some riffs also are taken from the black genre. Above all, the title “Life Mimics Theatre” is just right to describe what to expect from Ideogram’s music style: a musical theatre play, by a metal band. The style deserves well the title of “Avant-Garde”.

The sound is above standards, without been superb. Sometimes the instruments tend to overleap each other but it’s nothing too significant. In general, every sound has its own band and the right volume, so it’s easy to hear every one separately paying at the same time. The kick sounds deep and defined enough, the voices always clear and guitars powerful when they must. The audio fits the musical style perfectly and that’s what matters.

The album has 12 tracks. One of them is a short intro and another a coda, so only 10 of those are full songs. It’s an ok length for a LP, but because of the superb song quality you will of course want more. The intro and outro tracks aren’t superfluous at all. They seem almost necessary for a work almost operatic and classic like this one.

The song structure is to be praised. There is no rigid AABA scheme and every song feels like a complete piece, with an intro, development and conclusion. The bridges are awesome most of the time. As said before, it's more like an opera than a pop music work. 

The composition is the best element present in this work. The number of voices is big. Just to make it easy, here is a list:

- Clean male vocals

- Clean female vocals

- High pitched harsh male vocals

- Low pitches harsh male vocals

Besides, every voice is used in different ways throughout the album. Sometimes singing, others talking, screaming or growling. It's just rich.

The use of different instruments makes everything even more interesting. Again, a small list: 

- Classic instruments, like piano, flutes, strings, harpsichord, accordion, etc.

- Modern instruments, like guitars, bass, etc.

- Electronic instruments or synths.

These elements alone are nothing if the composition itself isn't right, and, in this album, of course it is. As said before, the music style (Gothic Death Metal) isn't completely new but it seems very mature and solid. It's complex, varied, entertaining, original and beautiful, everything one may want from a musical piece. 

Some pieces are better than others, but the gap is not too big. Every song differentiates enough from the others and the whole album has a beginning and an end.

In sum, this debut album is a delight and only makes you want for more.

Album review: Diminished 7 - The Regal Chapters - 2014

Genre: Gothic Metal
Country: USA
Year: 2014


 Tracklist:

1. When the Heart Consumes the Soul
2. Love Erased
3. Malice Gloom
4. El Ayo Ri La
5. She Destroys
6. Demons of Cast
7. Into Dying Eyes
8. Stigmata Dolls
9. Where There Once Were Walls
10. Worm?
11. (S)unravelling
12. My Insatiable Heart

There are more Gothic Metal bands than mushrooms on a rainy forest. But, a few of those aren’t mushrooms, at all. Some of them are great bands with its own identity and particular style. Diminished 7 is one of those few bands, thanks mainly because of its last released album, “The Regal Chapters”.

The sound is average at most. The volume is below today standards, the mixing wasn’t very well done so some instruments overlap each other, and some decisions about how every instrument must sound like could be criticized. It would be unfair, however, to say the album sounds like shit, because it doesn't. 

The album structure doesn't bring anything new. It has a decent intro, an insignificant interlude, and an ugly coda. The number of songs gets then reduced to nine of the twelve tracks. That's not enough for any long play album. 

The song structure isn't to be praised neither. It's as rigid as it usually is in any pop piece, with an AABA order.

All that, summed with plain vocals and some lack of technical instrument play, should result in a bad musical product, right? But, what about the composition? It's the only star in this sea of darkness... and it shines bright.

Thanks to an almost progressive style, the band achieves to enrich largely the genre, and, while doing so, to drive far away from what may be otherwise a generic gothic metal. Every song -besides the three pieces already mentioned- is complex and entertaining in almost every segment while carrying attractive and interesting melodies. The result is then, above all, an amusing album filled with original and catchy tunes.

Harsh vocals are present in some songs (like in "Where There One Were Walls" and in "Demons of Cast”), just to add a bit more of spice to the already saucy composition.

About the audio, beyond all the flaws, the sound gives a special feel and atmosphere to the whole work that matches very well the band's particular heavy gothic metal style. 

Of course, this is an album filled with highs and lows. Some songs are better than most of the melogoth ones out there, but some others are inferior. Thus, the gap between them is huge. The best ones are “Love Erased” –the album’s first song and a good choice for it-, "El Ayo Ri La", “Demons of Cast” and "Where There Once Were Walls". The other ones aren't bad, but just not notables.

So, even though the package isn't the prettiest, the content is worthy of attention.

If you like the gothic metal style, you must be glad: the genre still lives and evolves, and some bands like Diminished 7 are the ones that make this possible.

Album review: Crematory - Antiserum - 2014

Genre: Gothic Metal/Industrial Metal
Country: Germany
Year: 2014


Tracklist:

1. Apocalyptic Vision
2. Until the End 
3. Shadowmaker
4. If You Believe
5. Inside Your Eyes
6. Kommt näher
7. Irony of Fate
8. Virus
9. Back from the Dead
10. Welcome
11. Antiserum

It has been more than 20 years since the release of Crematory's first album, being remarkable its slow but awesome evolution

Some elements have changed substantially, like the use of synths and the melodicity, which have both increased a lot, and the album structure. Others have endured, like the harsh vocals -which are exactly the same-, the German and English mix in the lyrics, and the style at its core. The progression has been slow, in general, but still each disk has its own feel, being easy to link any song to its album, only by listening to it.

Normally, this German band doesn't take more than two years to launch a new compilation. Indeed, the only exception to this has been, until now, because of the four years pause the band took on the year 2000, before releasing its best and more revolutionary album, "Revolution". This time, also four years have passed since the last compilation ("infinity"), and so, one may wonder if this time the revolution from "revolution" -so redundant- could happen again...

And yes. Antiserum innovates greatly respect to its predecessors. It's what a new Crematory album usually is, and more. It doesn't bring something significantly new, it maintains the band's essence intact, but refreshes it by the introduction of extra elements.

This time, the most obvious new element is the dissonance present in most of the tracks, except in "Irony Of Fate" and "Kommt Näher" -which has, by the way, the most catchy melody-. It kicks you in the ears from the very beginning of the album, till the end of it. It's present through all of it, in almost every song, and in almost every chorus. Most of the time it's ok, sometimes it's more than ok, but other times it's less than ok. In "Virus", the dissonance is unpleasant, in "Welcome" it just ruins the chorus, but in "Until The End" it makes the song interesting and attractive. It's clear the band's intention to make this element a distinctive one in this release, but it didn't work too well with a non-progressive style.

Another element added is the use of vocoder (as voice fx filter) in some songs, along with a more extensive use of trance music like instruments and effects. Sometimes, the band almost reaches an industrial metal style. This gives to the album a different and fresh vibe that separates it from its predecessors. However, this doesn't bring necessarily a good result.

The songs have a stiff modern structure, thus there is no novelty here. The album structure however is another matter. The band keeps changing it from time to time, sometimes just once after various albums. This time they've put once again an intro piece, and for the first time, as last track, the album title song. These changes may not seem too much, but they mark the band’s special vision of a particular composition style, in a particular epoch of its history. You can check through the discography the obvious similarities between a certain album structure -shared by various compilations- and a certain style in composition.

That first intro track matches the next one ("Until The End") more than it matches the whole album, feeling like part of that song. That takes away most of the relevance that an intro song must have in a compilation.

The first real song is, then, Until The End. It's a good song, one of the album's best ones. It has nice catchy tune in the riff, but it's weak at the chorus. In fact, the riff is better than the chorus, and the bridge has nothing to remember.

"Shadowmaker", the second song, suffers from the same disease, and the following pieces aren't better neither, till "Kommt Näher", which marks the album's climax. After that, again, the power and the composition quality descends up to "Welcome", which is a not-so-good song, ruined at some level by the dissonance present in the last chorus's segment.

Generally, in every release, Crematory puts as last track a melodic song. This time it's not the exception, however now this is the homonymous song album, and a bit heavy too. It's one of the best pieces in this work and a great way to end it.

About the price, we have to say it seems a little high for an eleven song compilation. Even more when one of them is just an unremarkable intro, none plays for more than five minutes -and for more than 4:30, in average-, and this is no way the best full-length release we've heard from this band. It's at $15.89 at amazon.com and at €15.99 at nuclearblast.de.

The Digipack version, as well as the Boxset edition, comes with two remixes of "Shadowmaker". If you have already listened to any Crematory's remixed song, released in the past, you may not be surprised by the poor quality of these new ones. So, don't get over excited about them and rush to get the more pricy album versions just because of these. It's better to just listen to them through a music stream service and save some bucks, because these don't worth the money they are asking for. The other goodies included in those sets, like posters and other shits, may be more interesting for a fan, though.

The audio isn't the best ever displayed by Crematory. It isn't superb but it's good enough to enjoy the powerful guitars and bass. It's a little tweaked with respect to the previous work, noticeable mostly in a deeper bass, even though it's hard to say it's superior. Here, the guitar has lost some relevance and the kick's bass seems too loud and overcharged, producing an unbalanced sound.

Overall, this band made another good but not excellent release. The album and every of its songs are lacking the consistency shown in disks like Revolution or Infinity . Even though some of them, like "Until The End", "Kommt Näher" and "Antiserum", are good ones, none will be remembered as one of the band's best ones. Some other tracks, like "Inside Your Eyes" are mediocre, at best.

As final comment, Crematory has always been a great and talented band, despite some unfortunate songs and Pray (2008' album). From its first album the band has improved in every aspect of its music, managing to leave its essence mostly intact. That's something pretty unique for a music group with more than twenty years of life. Of course, this can be attributed to the almost no line-up variation that the band has experimented through its history, but it's still something worthy of attention.