Now this is how you do Swedish melodic death metal! Imagine the hardest parts of Arch Enemy mixed with later Hypocrisy and Dark Tranquillity (minus the synths), with Amon Amarth's Johan Hegg on vocals. Sure, this sound is hardly original, but what's refreshing is its execution. Quite simply, this is the most headbang-able album to come out in a while. If it had been released ten years ago, its name would have been right up there with some illustrious peers.
Experience is much to credit for this. The band was once known as A Canorous Quintet, cutting its teeth in the fertile '90s Swedish metal scene. In 2005, the present lineup recorded a demo, sent it to only one label, and got signed. That label was Metal Blade – not bad!
What make this debut work so well are the perfect tempos of the songs. They vary in speed, but the band precisely calibrates each one for maximum impact. When you listen to this album, be sure to clear space for the headbanging sure to follow. Grooves range from teeth-rattling blastbeats to snare-driven stomps to majestic half-speed marches. Melodeath riffs fire away on top like it's 1997 again. No clean vocals, no boundary-testing experimentation – this is simply well-written, well-played Swedish melodic death metal.
7.5/10
