For whatever reason, the artwork and general aesthetic surrounding this record had me expecting something more progressive or out of the ordinary from this Swedish act. But instead it's very standard melodic Swedish death metal very much in the vein of "Slaughter of the Soul" (even down to the vocals) with a cleaner guitar tone and a few more "peppy" melodic riffs that have a little bit of a rock influence (bringing to mind more than a bit of Gardenian's earlier work - and I believe this band shares Gardenian's former drummer as well). It's nothing new, and I'm getting tired of this stuff, but hey, I have to admit, this is good for what it is. The riffs are pretty cool, the recording is nice, the performances are tight, the songs are enjoyable to listen to, and so on. It's nothing that really sticks with me or catches my attention, but there are definitely a few parts that make me perk up and say, "Hey, that's a pretty cool chord progression/harmony right there..." The guitar tone is heavy but really clean as far as having a honed distortion, the bass is barely audible just behind the guitars, the vocals are placed right next to the guitars, and the percussion is solid. I could deal with a warmer drum sound, but they're definitely close to the mark across the board. Overall I'm quite pleased with the production. Songwriting wise everything is pretty typical, aside from a few nonstandard influences the structures are basic and I can get into it. Sometimes the songs run for too long or the vocals can get a slightly irritating sneer that I could live without, but for the most part it's a very consistent disc. The layout is rather streamlined as far as color scheme and typeface, which looks nice. Some of the artwork seems less than interesting to me, and I actually like the image on the back of the booklet a lot more than what they used for the cover, but that's life. I'm not really interested in the lyrics for whatever reason. The strange artwork in cooperation with the album title had me expected something a bit more in depth. There are interesting moments, but overall it's nothing necessarily out of the ordinary, and I'm not 100% sure what they were going for. I have to say, to my surprise, this is one of the better relatively straightforward melodic Swedish death metal records I've heard as of late - especially from a band that's native to Sweden! If you're a fan of this stuff I still can't say that this is mandatory, but I like it, and if you're really into a wide spectrum of these bands, Within Y is worth looking into.
[Karmageddon]
Running time - 44:14, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: Remains of a Shattered Illusion, Behold, Sacred Lies]
Karmageddon Media - http://www.karmageddonmedia.com
