2006-11-29
In Flames and
Soilwork fans may rejoice, there's yet another band that manages to combine the aggression of Euro death metal with some thrash elements and clean vocals, with keyboards on top, if you like the after mentioned bands, you'll like Mygrain, if not – better steer away, since the resemblance is uncanny at times.
I'll certainly give the band this, they deliver a very professional sounding album, tight sound, good playing ability, some catchy riffs, and the vocals are pretty strong, though I liked the growled ones much more than I did the clean, the addition of keyboards actually works for the band, making them sound more up-to-date and even futuristic, probably what they were aiming for.
It works most of the time, while the first track sounds a bit too much like In Flames, in the second one – "Cold Reflection" all the elements come together well, and even some independent character is displayed, the band has talent, I cant doubt that.
"W.I.F" starts off with a great melodic death riff, the drumming is well placed in the mix and is very well done. Again, I liked the strong growled vocals more than I did the mellow ones. They put this release in the middle ground between melodic death and metalcore, which the band certainly resembles, and I like the former better. There's no denying the commercial appeal of the latter, though, Soilwork and In Flames are what they are these days because of them walking that thin line.
I liked the fact the band doesn’t flinch from more modern sounding, almost techno-rhythms, "Humanimal" is a kind of a metalcore anthem, catchy and rhythmical, it fits the band well, and they make it work. Again, the strong sound does half the job already. Some of the heavier parts work even better, "Downfall" is another good track with a constant drum attack, this is heavier, and the band works well in this aggressive line too.
I can't give this points for originally, but the band does impress with its quality and talent, definitely up the alley for Soilwork and In Flames fans, and there are quite a lot of them out there.
Alon Miasnikov
