VERITATE

Veritate are an unsigned act from Lund in southern Sweden, and their debut album 'Straight Into Hell', a self-released effort, was handed to me for review on Metal Discovery by one of the band's guitarists, Ritchie LaRoux, at the ProgPower Europe festival this year. An incredibly nice guy, his instructions to me were "be honest", so I hereby present my unbiased critique. After a short atmospheric and keyboard-led intro piece, the album bursts into action with 'Murder To Be Gods', and Veritate's old-school metal influences are immediately evident, although with a more contemporary progressive dynamic and some effectively used keyboards. Proclaiming their influences as Candlemass, Iron Maiden, Dio, Manowar, and Kreator among others, 'Straight Into Hell' transcends what could have been a mere exercise in old-school admiration with enough compositional variation and more modern elements in the song-writing. With the level of musicianship generally of a high level, it's a pity that Veritate's vocalist, simply billed as 'C.L.A.W.', weakens the overall delivery of the material with some occasionally dissonant singing at the high-end of his voice. His low and mid-range vocals are more or less in perfect pitch, although seems to stretch his voice beyond its capabilities to reach the higher notes. That said, 'Straight Into Hell' is otherwise a fine release of well composed retro-modern metal that has potential mass appeal in today's current climate where retro flavours are once again on metal's menu in popularity terms. Fairly well produced for a self-released debut, the album also has a professionally printed CD booklet complete with lyrics and nice cover design/artwork - all elements that are often lacking in other self-releases. Far from brilliant, 'Straight Into Hell', is still a solid effort, and with a more 'controlled' approach to the vocal delivery, Veritate could be ready in the near future to make their mark on the scene.

LABEL:

FORMAT:

Self-released

Album

STRAIGHT INTO HELL

Review by Mark Holmes

RUNNING TIME:

61:36

RELEASE DATE:

November 2008

TRACK LISTING

1) Intro
2) Murder To Be Gods
3) Panic Game
4) Straight Into Hell
5) Father Time
6) Keepers of the Flame
7) Scary Mary
8) Kindred
9) Dead Man Walking
10) Court Of Rats

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

Sweden

"'Straight Into Hell' transcends what could have been a mere exercise in old-school admiration with enough compositional variation and more modern elements in the song-writing."