Oathean "Fading Away Into the Grave of Nothingness" CD
[The End]
I'm surprised to see this South Korean outfit land on The End Records, because not only does this record look rather poor, but it's not very exciting from a musical level either. The layout is just fucking terrible on this thing. There are a few nice photographs that would've been promising were they not tinted red, but the thing is inconsistent as hell. Deep reds, deep greens, and pink-ish colors... hard to read text, panels that look like they were scanned from color xeroxes or something... it's just a sloppy looking layout that doesn't look interesting in any way. Musically this is also very typical melodic death/black metal with keyboards added for an atmospheric touch, so underneath snarling vocal screams expect midpaced chord progressions, speedy tremolo picking runs, and melodic guitar harmonies that are very much in line with the melodic Swedish style. Sometimes they'll hit on a very nice dual guitar run that packs more emphasis, and some of the leads are really nice, but all in all this is boring material. The songs average five to six minutes and just kind of go on and on, there's nothing really memorable or creative about the band's style at all. Thankfully the synths are mixed in pretty well (they're still a distraction, however), but the character of the keyboards isn't all that great, so I think they actually strip away from the songwriting. I just do not find these songs to have any real power, though. It's a totally generic style that's been done time and time again, and aside from a few strong riffs there's not much to offer with this one. There's too much one-sided tremolo picking and similarity to the tempos, and it all runs together. "Road To..." is a calmer track based around piano/synths and what I think is a violin, but sadly the violin sounds more like horrible squealing vocals and ruins the entire piece. Two bonus tracks are included, one of which is live (unnecessary), and the other is the oddly titled "The Money From the Tobacco Pouch", which combines doomier rhythms with a little bit of a thrash edge that, while inconsistent, isn't so bad (I like the acoustic guitars, at least). The recording is tolerable but isn't as effective as it could be. The drums sound far too flimsy and thin and pose the largest problem, whereas the guitars have a distant ring and aren't all that powerful either. The guitar tone is decent, it just needs more crunch, especially since there's very little bass in the mix at all. It kind of sounds like they might have been going for a lightly cold or raw black metal sound, but... this music doesn't require such, so I would recommend a tighter and crisper set of tones for the band. The drums definitely need more warmth, as they cut through the mix and really thin things out. The lyrics? "Tears of blood", "blackened hearts", that sort of thing. Nothing striking. To be brutally honest this record does not possess any of the qualities I would normally expect from a release on a label with a strong reputation like The End Records. I'm pretty let down by this one. (3/10)
Running time - 55:46, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: none of them really grab me]
The End Records - http://www.theendrecords.com

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