UNANIMATED

Reforming 12 years after your last album must put enormous pressure on you to remain true to your original incarnation. Otherwise, surely a new name? Still a couple of years after said reformation, we have the album 'In The Light Of Darkness' to mercilessly dissect. That's not really fair though is it? More importantly, having never heard of them before this album landed in my lap, would it be accurate to even compare the two eras? No, frankly. So, treated on its own, as a death/black metal hybrid, is it an enjoyable experience? Sure, it's got that funky swagger that Scandinavian death metal possesses, along with solos that the Troo-BM-crowd would get very upset about, and the vocals are high-register (think evil-Popeye); planting them in BM territory too. So, genre-wise, they're on the nail. The drumming, at times, is off-time when blast-beating, which will please forest dwellers no end. Writing-wise it gets a little cloudier sadly. There's nothing wrong with the songs on offer here, I enjoyed listening to it and at no point felt like turning it off. However, if I had spent my own hard-earned on this, I'm not so sure I would be quite so okay with that. There's nothing that ignites the erogenous zones, or tickles the foot-tapping switches. Competent, but ordinary I guess. Which is a shame, because I don't hate this. 'The Endless Beyond' is a nice melodic slice of foreboding doom, and following track 'Diabolic Voices' carries its rapid nastiness well, with a nice breakdown mid-way. But, it's not enough to save the record from being largely uninteresting (unanimated if you will). Still, take a wander to their MySpace page, and judge for yourself. Old fans may lap it up. Casual observers probably won't.

LABEL:

FORMAT:

Regain Records

Album

IN THE LIGHT OF DARKNESS

Review by Steve Cowan

RUNNING TIME:

45:46

RELEASE DATE:

11th May 2009

TRACK LISTING

1) Ascend with the Stench of Death
2) Retribution in Blood
3) The Endless Beyond
4) Diabolic Voices
5) In the Light of Darkness
6) The Unconquered One
7) Enemy of the Sun
8) Serpent's Curse
9) Death to Life
10) Strategia Luciferi

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

Sweden

"...it's got that funky swagger that Scandinavian death metal possesses, along with solos that the Troo-BM-crowd would get very upset about, and the vocals are high-register (think evil-Popeye); planting them in BM territory too."