2006-09-28
Rest In piece Sentenced, long live Poisonblack.
Former Sentenced vocalist Ville Laihiala has been the saving grace when his former band lost its vocalist, he vocals re-defined the band and helped turn in into one of Europe best and one of Finland's most successful metal imports, now the man comes through for his vocalist-less band, where he used to serve as guitarist only, and he injects its with some star-power by handling the vocal duties here as well.
Poisonblack's last two albums were pretty good Goth metal albums, with some sturdy rock N' Roll riffing, but this, their third, is elevated by both Ville's ever improving vocals, and much better songs than I remember from their past efforts, this is again depressive Goth metal, heavy and melodic, which will probably appeal to any Sentenced fans out there, though its mostly heavier stuff.
Nothing Else Remains is a Sentenced-like anthem at its best, with a clear cut and memorable chorus the way Ville is really good at creating, it’s the second track – Hallow Be My Name where the band's uniqueness is more evident, much heavier, with some solid keyboard work adding atmosphere, its less catchy and immediate, but it has a certain air of quality about it.
The Darkest Lie is very keyboard driven, with some solid guitar riffs on top, its all quite modern sounding, courtesy of the famed Tue Madsen who seems to have updated the band's sound, making it quite different than the sound more familiarized with Sentenced, that's a good move, since if I may be blunt, this has at least 10 similarity points with Sentenced right now, and the band may want to avoid at least some of them, for the sake of its own character of nothing else.
Nail starts off like a Cradle Of Filth track with its atmospheric keyboards, the riffing is quite sludgy and powerful, this is where the band truly comes into its own, Ville's mournful vocals really sit in well with this. Tracks like Never Enough are heavy and fast enough to sound like an In Flames track with Ville's vocals, its quite a nice flavor added to the album.
Poisonblack really come into their own with this release, the Sentenced comparisons are inescapable, but this is actually just a very good melodic Goth-metal album, and I enjoyed it.
Alon Miasnikov
