90's melodic death metal -- There was a time, a long time ago, when it just ruled the world and was one my favoritest things to listen to. In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, Soilwork, At the Gates, Gardenian and Gates of Ishtar, fuck man, the list was huge and the bands were even bigger. However, by the turn of the millennium the genre didn't really die, but the founders changed and changed drastically. Some becoming common rock stars, while others just broke up, whereas a few others, such as, The Everdawn, well... they just never made it at all.
Formed in Luleå, Sweden around '93, the band released the 'Opera of the Damned' EP in '96 and their one and only album, 'Poems - Burn the Past' in '97. After listening to the record, which might I add I found for a mere 50 cents, I came to one quick conclusion; these guys really, no I mean really, really wanted to make their own 'Slaughter of the Soul.' Everything about this record is so similar to At the Gates' seminal '95 release; raspy vocals, chugging deathy riffs, thrashy drumming, melodic passages all over the place, twin guitar parts and even song titles that shout out AtG (Autumn, Sombre Autumn & When the Sunset Forever Fade, as examples). Perhaps the only thing that isn't on par is the lousy cover art and the production, which is freakishly quiet and absolutely forces you to turn your stereo up to about 14 just to hear the record properly.
Considering all that, is 'Poems - Burn the Past' a bad record? No, absolutely not, in fact if you've got any love for SotS or really any early hard driven melo death I'm quite certain you'll enjoy the album. Is 'Poems - Burn the Past' a complete rip-off? Well, yes and no, the song writing isn't as strong, which probably explains why the album has been infinitely relegated to extreme discount bins (fucking .50¢, man!), but otherwise you know what you're getting with this one.
Curiously the album was re-released in '03 by Hammerheart and more recently by Century Media in '12 with a new cover art, bonus tracks from the EP and hopefully remastered too.
Nowadays, 3/4 of the band plays in a death 'n' roll band called, Helltrain,' which means they'll never, ever make it, but hopefully they are at least having fun, because that's what's most important, anyway.
No comments:
Post a Comment