Review: Tracedawn - Ego Anthem

"What the hell is going on? Skijumpers making music that sells gold.", asked Timo Tolkki with Stratovarius back in 1994 on their Dreamspace album. The song of course was Reign Of Terror and it was about Matti Nykänen, world's best skijumper who started singing and instantly became a success. Matti Nykänen couldn't sing back then and he still can't yet he is very popular in Finland...go figure. There has been more and more very young bands popping up to Finland's metalscene over the past years. Not that it's a bad thing of course...it's just that I have seen couple of youngsters from these bands in a civil-situation and they have acted like worldowners. With only couple of years in the industry under their belt there should be lot more humbleness. It will be a long drop from that cloud where they think they are.

How about Tracedawn then? They are just putting out their sophmore album titled "Ego Anthem". Their debut album "Path Of Reality" was released on 2008. But with Tracedawn I am glad to say things are different. They have a very high working moral and it shows...and above all...sounds. Members of Tracedawn are very young at age, oldest of them only being 22-years old. But god damn they are talented! You can hear from everything that they didn't just decide to put up a band few years ago. There has been huge amount of training for their instruments which they master very well. So all in all...playing is good...how about songs then? Most songs on "Ego Anthem" are in fact very good. I know how people love to compare bands with each other and if you would have to compare Tracedawn with something I'd say they've listened their share of Children Of Bodom and Norther but without being clones to those bands. Songs have twists and turns, lots of melodies and attitude. Now the trend part these days is that you have both clean and growling vocals presented and that goes with Tracedawn also. It's not a bad thing cause the mixture of those vocals works with the songs. It's not like "Dude we have to have this clean vocals cause it's so cool!" but more likely cause it fits the songs very well.

Although the album doesn't contain any flops I would still raise the following songs slightly above: "Part Of The Wounded", "In Your Name", "Repeating Mistakes", "The Forsaken". With those songs you hear this incredible potential Tracedawn has. Make no mistake...you'll hear about them more in the future.

And one other thing worth mentioning which says something about their potential is that they played on this years Wacken Open Air-Festival which just happens to be the festival of all metal festivals!

Review: 8.5/10

Ego Anthem tracklist:

1. Make Amends
2. Part Of The Wounded
3. Scum
   
4. In Your Name
5. Your Way Is Not For Me
6. Dirt Track Speedball
7. Repeating Mistakes
8. Brain Attack
9. The Forsaken

Tracedawn is:
Pekko Heikkilä / Bass
Perttu Kurttila / Drums
Antti Lappalainen / Vocals
Vili Itäpelto / Keyboards
Tuomas Yli-Jaskari / Guitars
Roni Seppänen / Guitars

Links:
http://www.tracedawn.com
http://www.myspace.com/tracedawn
http://www.redhouse.fi
http://www.metalfromfinland.com/Tracedawn

Rammstein new video Pussy...simply genius!

They have done it again! You simply have to love these guys. At times they have managed to do lots of things to get the attention but I think this time they did hit the goldmine. The first release from their forthcoming album "Liebe Ist Für Alle Da" is a song called "Pussy". Now if the name itself doesn't drag attention...well then surely the video will. If you haven't seen the video, you can watch it at http://visit-x.net/rammstein/ (WARNING: The video contains nudity and sex scenes and is not suitable for minors.)

All in all I have always liked Rammstein and nothing is going to change that. But I also can expect anything from them and as I went to the website to see the video I knew that they have something "shocking"...and after seeing the mainpage where you need to click whether you are full age or not, I was convinced that this is something worth seeing. Hmm...well...the video is good right? Nothing is hidden...it's like a pornmovie. It felt kinda weird to recognize the music as Rammstein but visually seeing a pornmovie. And when I say they show everything I mean everything.

But why on earth would Rammstein do such a video? Well it's simple. First of all the song is horrible. But it's ok cause I am sure they knew it themselves too. And it's quite certain that they won't get much MTV-airtime with that video either :) So why bother? For the exact reason you have witnessed all over the internet today...Rammstein is the name on everyone's lipps again. It was all about getting the attention cause afterall, their album is still on the way so what is a better way to start promoting eh? You cannot buy this kind of media attention and Rammstein is taking advantage everything internet has to offer. I just wish I could see the statistics how many times that website has been visited during the day!

Downside of releasing a poor song as a single before the album is that people might start thinking if the entire album is as crappy as the single? But since they went SO overboard with this, I believe fans will realize what's going on here. Probably "Liebe Ist Für Alle Da" is going to be a very good album. Man I love when bands do things like this. It doesn't matter what you think about the song or the video...you probably watched it anyway...and if nothing else...you remember the name Rammstein now.

Rammstein I salute you!

Review: Insomnium - Across The Dark

My dearest readers...picture this: Heart of winter. Late night. -25 degrees celcius outside. The only light in the outside comes from the full moon that reflects from the virgin white snow. In the middle of nowhere there is a cottage and you can only see dim light coming from one window. Through the window you can see a figure inside...standing on a chair...with a noose around his neck. I think I just described what in my opinion is Insomnium. How can something be at the same time so melodic and touching yet so god damn depressive?! Well...to me Insomnium is just that.

Their label Candlelight Records describes Across The Dark like this: "AMAZING FOURTH STUDIO ALBUM FROM FINNISH MELODIC DEATH METALLERS A PINCH OF DOOM, SOME THRASHING, A WHOLE LOT OF TIMELESS MELODIES AND PROGRESSIVE TWISTS AND THERE YOU HAVE IT: INGREDIENTS OF THE MASTERPIECE THE PERFECT MARRIAGE OF SCANDINAVIAN DEATH METAL WITH TRADITIONAL FINNISH TUNES"

Over the last decade Insomnium has slowly but surely made themselves a household name among melodic death metal bands. Formed in 1997 in a somnolent town of Joensuu, in eastern Finland, these stern men have since redefined the boundaries of the genre. Two highly acclaimed demos set the standard and in 2001 the band signed to UK label Candlelight Records.

The thing I respect about Insomnium is their ability to test boundaries (if they have any) and make music that at the same is melodic and brutal. In just few seconds you can be totally breathless from beautiful melodies that all of a sudden change onto brutal death metal. "Across The Dark" brings new elements when they took Jules Näveri from Profane Omen to sing clean vocals on few songs. This was the first time Insomnium had clean vocals on their albums although they already planned some on their predecessor "Above The Weeping World". On livesituation those clean vocals will be sung by Ville Friman who handles guitars at the same time.

As an album "Across The Dark" is much more complex than any they've done before. The average length of songs are around 5-6 minutes. But although there are new things presented, this is so Insomnium...as pure as it can be. Insomnium used to be "Finland's best kept secret" but it's not anymore. And about time for them to get some recognition dammit.

Review: 9/10

Across The Dark tracklist:

1. Equivalence
2. Down With The Sun
3. Where The Last Wave Broke
4. The Harrowing Years
5. Against The Stream
6. Lay Of Autumn
7. Into The Woods
8. Weighed Down with Sorrow

Insomnium is:
Niilo Sevänen / Vocals, Bass
Ville Friman / Guitars
Ville Vänni / Guitars
Markus Hirvonen / Drums

Links:
http://www.insomnium.net
http://www.myspace.com/insomniumband
http://www.candlelightrecords.co.uk
http://www.metalfromfinland.com/Insomnium/

Review: Cain's Offering - Gather The Faithful

PERKELE! What the hell just happen? What is this album? New band of Ex-Sonata Arctica Jani Liimatainen? Wasn't he "kindly" asked to leave SA 2007 and the reasons were...and I quote... "his messing around with his compulsory military/civil/prison duty, or rather, complete failure to take care of it". Well Sonata Arctica had a new guitar player Elias Viljanen and they continued their path. Sonata Arctica are about to release their "Days Of Grays" album but in all honesty they really need to deliver a killer album to even remotely overtake Jani's "Gather The Faithful"-album. Who knows...maybe they will. I do have my confidence on Sonata Arctica cause they have always been a good band. Enough about SA though...I will review their new album at some point anyway.

With Cain's Offering Jani Liimatainen has hooked on with very talented musicians. Vocalist Timo Kotipelto (Stratovarius, Kotipelto), keyboardist Mikko Harkin (Solution.45, Mehida, ex-Sonata Arctica, ex-Wingdom, ex-Kenziner), bassist Jukka Koskinen (Norther, Wintersun) and drummer Jani "Hurtsi" Hurula (Paul Di'Anno). The roster seems to be in order...what about the album then? Would you believe me if I'd say it doesn't have a single bad song on it? Well like in all reviews...these are always just opinions of one person but mine is that every song on "Gather The Faithful" is excellent. And I am so hyped up about it since this rarely EVER happens! There is another side to all this of course...when you hear an album which sounds just about perfect from the first time on there is always the chance that you get bored as quickly. And that was what I felt also..."Man this album is so good that it simply can't last". Well I have listened the album now for about 20 times and although there are some songs that start wearing out a bit, it's still a god damn good album. If I would have made this review a week ago I would have given it 10/10.

I am not going to review each song this time. But what I am going to do is talk about it in general. The first thing that came to my mind when listening to "Gather The Faithful" was that it reminded me of old Sonata Arctica. Ecliplica and Silence times. And the second thing that caught my attention was Kotipelto. Man it has been years since he sounded this good. I think we have to go all the way to Destiny and Infinite era of Stratovarius. His voice sounds so natural and clear. Whatever they did in the studio to make the man sing like that...don't change anything in the future. I was also very impressed about Mikko Härkin. Well overall the chemistry in the band sounds very tight.

From "Gather The Faithful" I would lift the following songs as absolute pearls: "My Queen Of Winter", "More Than Friends", "Gather The Faithful", "Thorn In My Side", "Dawn Of Solace" and "Oceans Of Regret". I could easily recommend this cd to anyone. Only if you totally hate high and clear vocals you might want to reconsider. But even so...you should give it a chance.

Review: 9.5/10

Gather The Faithful tracklist:

1. My Queen Of Winter
2. More Than Friends
3. Ocean Of Regret
4. Gather The Faithful
5. Into The Blue
6. Dawn Of Solace
7. Thorn In My Side
8. Morpheus In A Masquerade
9. Stolen Waters
10. Elegantly Broken

Cain's Offering is:
Timo Kotipelto / Vocals
Jani Liimatainen / Guitars
Mikko Harkin / Keyboards
Jukka Koskinen / Bass
Jani "Hurtsi" Hurula / Drums

Links:
http://www.cainsoffering.com
http://www.metalfromfinland.com/Cain%27s+Offering