Amorphis: SKYFORGER (2009)
RATING: ****1/2
BEST SONGS: "Sampo," "Sky is Mine," title track
It's been more than 10 years since I purchased an Amorphis album. To let you in on a secret: I wouldn't have bought this one either, had the Year 2009 not suck so badly in terms of metal. Luckily, this release is here to save the day I meant "the year." This is the album that I've been waiting for since Sentenced decomposed, only it's decidedly more goth and less folk. Still, there are plenty of Karelian melodies to sink your teeth into, most apparently in the opening "Sampo." Just like in the "Tale of a Thousand Lakes", the lyrics are based on the "Kaleval" folklore epos. This is the first time I hear Joutsen in recording (saw him at the ProgPower fest), and he is amazing, even more so because he is quite competent as both a clean singer and a growler. When singing clean he heavily resembles Ville Laihiala, and that adds to the Sentenced parallel. The music is catchy and accessible enough even for radio, had the radio in this country been interested in playing music. Yet it is not by any means commercial, just melodic and flawlessly executed. There are no weak songs here at all. My favorites are the dark folklore of "Sampo," the flight sensation of "Sky is Mine" (love that guitar!), the power and magnificence of the title track, and the mid-tempo melodic drive of "Course of Fate." "From the Heaven of My Heart" reminds me of The Cure (as any goth band should). "Majestic Beast" is exactly what the name implies: majestic sound with the roaring voice. And I just have to mention the sheer power of "From Earth I Rose": when Joutsen roars "I'm a brother to the FIRE!!" one cannot help but nod. One particularly interesting thing is that the music actually fits the lyrics. An excellent disc throughout.
Mechanical Poet: EIDOLINE: THE ARAKEEN CODE (2008)
RATING: ***
BEST SONGS: "Virus," "Fantasies," "Fremen"
A 3rd full length album from the undisputed leaders of English-language-metal-in-Russia. A third album and a third lineup. You would be wise to expect nothing like the previous two, which, in turn, were nothing alike. This would also mark the first time I plea "reviewer's incompetence": to do this album justice, one would have to be proficient in the nu-metal scene, which I am not. All I can say is that this album vaguely reminds me of Disturbed, which, of course, may not be true at all, limited as my familiarity with Disturbed is. In places, it goes industrial, in vein of Prong. This record is heavier than anything MP has done, save for, possibly "Stormchild" from the "Woodland Prattlers" album. The crunch has been elevated a few notches, but so has the "choppiness." The arrangements are not as lush as before, although the pace does change quite a bit between the songs. The band's sole founding member and the only songwriter, Lex Plotnikoff, clearly placed his money on the horse of heaviness. Normally I would welcome a change like that, especially after the wussiness of "Creepy Tales", but it was the songwriting that needed improvement, and it did not improve much. Most of the material is forgettable. But there are two things that make it worth hunting down: the artwork and "Fremen." You can always bet on a MP booklet having killer artwork, and this one does not disappoint. It's not as elaborate, but is somewhat of a mix between a scary comic book and political pamphlet. "Fremen" kicks ass. It's the best heavy song Lex has ever written. Superb special effects make you truly believe you are in the middle of a crowd at a rally. If you don't headbang while listening to it, you have no business reading this page. Other than that, and a couple of other solid tracks, like "Virus," "Fantasies," and "Witches," there is nothing really to say here. You have keyboard-heavy nu-metal instead of melodic punk. The new vocalist, Vladimir Nasonoff, is very similar to Evergrey's Tom Englund, especially when he is singing and not screaming. The lyrics represent non-specific deliberations on the themes of "Dune" by Frank Herbert. That very "Dune," which some other metal band wrote the song "To Tame the Land" about. That's all I've got to say about "E: tAC", but I would like to leave you with a scream from "Fremen": "Hey, hey, you saw it! Hey, hey, you said it! Hey, hey, you got it IN YOUR LIFE!!!"
VTS
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