Melodic Swedish styled death metal from Finland. And it's not bad. There are some issues, mainly with the recording, but pound for pound it's alright. The sound is a little muddy because the guitars and bass sort of fall together and there's not enough detail in the rhythm guitar tone, but the drums are way too fucking clicky and rigid, so they jump way out above everything else. I've heard worse drum sounds, but the problem is that the core of the mix is a little muffled and messy due to the muddiness, so the drums, vocals, and lead lines hang over everything else and leave you with a severe lack of clarity/punch for the bulk of the output. As far as the writing, they throw out a lot of killer riffs. It's pretty standard: Midrange vocal screams, largely made up of "Slaughter of the Soul" meets early In Flames/Dark Tranquillity runs with a slightly more old school metal flare to some of the solos and a modern edge to the precision of the performances, and so on. They stray from overusing tremolo picking in favor of solid dual guitar harmonies and heavier rhythms, but they keep the energy up most of the time, so with a better sense of production I think this album could kick some ass. The slightly slower and more emphatic "Deep Silent Dead" starts out with some excellent clean guitars and volume swells, the melodies in "Fallen Generation" are maybe more upbeat, and "Like a Generation" hits on some passages that sound a shitload like Dark Tranquillity circa "The Mind's I". I really like the layout. Most everything is done in shades of light brown and dark brown, with one full color band photo, and everything is consistently textured using the same clean font. All of the printing is also done on matte paper which is almost always a nice touch as well. The lyrics are basically personal, as song titles like "Darkness of Mine" and "Forever Nothing" (among others) would suggest, and I'm not that taken by anything since it's all pretty standard, base level stuff. I have to give this a 7/10 just because the performance and songwriting talents shown are above and beyond the bland crap that most of this genre has to offer at this point, but I have to emphasize that even though it sounds pretty good, these dudes should really work on getting a fuller and more natural recording on their next record. Look out for this band if you're into this style.
[Spikefarm]
Running time - 41:49, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: Darkness of Mine, Deep Silent Dead, The Neverending]
The Wake - http://www.the-wake.com
