THIS ENDING

‘Dead Harvest’ is the follow up to ‘Inside The Machine’ from this Swedish band featuring Amon Amarth drummer Fredrik Andersson and October Tide vocalist Mårten Hansen. It’s pretty fair to say this fits into the Swedish Melodic Death Metal vibe with a solid sounding band in charge of their sound… but… and it’s a big BUT - I do wonder whether I’ve heard this all too many times before. Originality is where the band lose points for me with this album. That’s not to say there aren’t some performances of note that really help this release – especially Mårten Hansen’s vocals which come across very much like Moonspell’s Fernando Ribeiro with a dynamic twist on gargling death/ black metal vehemence. The guitar solos from Leo Pignon and Linus Nirbrant forge in and out of the songs providing a weaving mesh one would expect with this sound. BUT (there is that word again!), there is no getting away from the fact that you’ll have heard all of this before! Although the album didn’t grab me immediately I thought it may be a grower but through subsequent listens I still feel like I did on first listen – slightly interested but ultimately wanting the band to explore their boundaries more. This is not in any way to say this is a bad album, but this formula has had a good run and I wonder what more can be done as it seems as though most bands are just re-treading the same boards. Although everything is in the right place, the songs could just be a bit stronger and a less well tested formula might see this This Ending reap bigger rewards in the future as they certainly have good musicians in the band, no argument there.

LABEL:

FORMAT:

Metal Blade Records

Album

DEAD HARVEST

Review by Paul Sims

RUNNING TIME:

44:39

RELEASE DATE:

2nd Feb 2009

TRACK LISTING

1) Trace of Sin
2) Parasites
3) Machinery
4) Instigator of Dead Flesh
5) Dellusionists
6) Army of the Dying Sun
7) Dead Harvest
8) Tools of Demise
9) Deathtrade
10) The Asylum

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

Sweden

"'...this formula has had a good run and I wonder what more can be done as it seems as though most bands are just re-treading the same boards."