11/11/2002

Nameless

Gallows

Two dead Names

Transfixion

The Vast

Raintracks

Enveloped

The great Distance

Farewell

Petri Eskelinen - vocals

Henri Villberg - vocals

Tomi Ullgren - guitar

Aleksi Ahokas - guitar & bass

Samuel Ruotsalainen - drums

RAPTURE: "Songs for the Withering" rapture Spinefarm Records

recorded and mixed 13-31-5-2002 by Tuomo valtinene at SundiCoop studio, Savonlinna , Finland.

Silent Stage

review by dalia "gryphon_spirit" di giacomo____

VERY MELODIC (DOOM) DEATH METAL FLAVOURED BY CATCHY ROCK ('N ROLL) NOTES WITH GROWlS BUT ALSO CLEAN VOCALS IN ORDER TO OFFER A COOL DUET

OH WHAT A BEAUTIFUL ALBUM IS THIS!! Another good production from Finland. Cool, cool, cool and again cool. This is one of the albums that , in my opinion, will let you be pleased for being in full possession of your hi-fi, discman, minidisc, or any device able to reproduce music ! I could say "Songs for the withering" is fantastic, from the first to the last notes, and i bet that in particular all those who like to hear some excellent depressive melodic death metal can only agree with me. Doom, heavy, slow, melancholic but catchy and sometimes even rock'n rolling chords are perfectly calibrated with clean and growling vocals . A weeping lead guitar will enchant you , while the Death Metal growls are a wonderful and unusual contrast in comparison with the melodic passages. Incredible riffs and countless emotions. Sometimes i think that this musical genre could have been a kind of evolution for Paradise Lost too if they would have not chosen another way. And indeed there are many moments in which something of the the old PL spirit is evoked. . One can also make some comparisons between Katatonia and/or Anathema, but the fact is that here we can listen anyway to an original depressive but persuading way to merge sadness and melancholy together with a melodic death metal touch and a kind of rock and roll feeling, leading, as a result, to unique high-class compositions, with a style of its own. Speaking again about vocals, the alternation or the combination between growls and clean singing is amazing and well done, moreover both vocals , provided by two different members of the band , are so agreeable and go straight under the skin, never being too excessive, or on the contrary, too weak (oh pardon!!...soft!) . Heavy with valuable guitar riffs and a charming weeping leads , fascinating, "Songs for the Withering" is a work that you cannot help loving and you will play it so long and so often, nevermind if you like death, heavy, prog or gothic or whatever. This is in my opinion 100% pleasure for the senses.

All tracks are incredible and methinks the best thing is listening to them , but i would at least underline some characteristics of these songs: we have the opener Nameless, with perfect growls and heavy , pushing and rolling guitar -sounds, whose interesting lyrics begin this way:

"i'm sleeping with a knife again - i'm just a drawing on the wall - sooner or later everything falls apart - every day a punishment...."

and then the obsessive but fluent and groovy Gallows, the extremely melancholic, slow and romantic Two dead Names sung with clean vocals which is successfully in not being the ususal ballade, , followed by the tormented and rhythmed Transfixion -...for the butterflies of joy- , deep lyrics and original and unpredictable notes which make this song simply immense. The vast, with clean vocals, is powered by an enthralling doom rock and roll rhythm alterned with slower and sad passages. Again rock rhythm for Raintracks, absolutely enjoyable, catchy but no commercial, absolutely cool even if debatable the words of Timothy Findley embedded in the lyrics : "Angels...they never existed - my belief is not enough twisted - to hold up such religious characters - what are you thinking of?". Enveloped is extremely intense with double vocals, clean and growls, emphasized by good loops with solid but melodic guitar lines. The great Distance is melancholic, but an enthralling rhythm breaks from time to time the slower and more depressive passages, while the lyrics are so steeped in escape, suicide and tears. Great striking guitars make Farewell precious , again a very sad song but full of pushing nuances, with attractive, fascinating and hypnotic instrumental passages.

The only one minus: this album is maybe a little bit repetitive sometimes but anyway never boring. On the contrary , at the end of story, you cannot get enough, i bet it ! I'm impressed like rarely i am , and the goose skin i have what is it?

rating 9.5/10

dalia di giacomo

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