Style: Depressive rock/metal, one minute of old school death metal
Primary Emotions/Themes: Looking at the world while holding a gun to your head, the last bastions of hope are lost and this is the album that gave you the strength to pull the trigger
Thoughts: The Funeral Album. A prophetic statement. The last album of the seminal band Sentenced. The final statement of their long and storied career.
The band had finally found their sound and perfected it with Ville on vocals after a few albums of floundering. I've discussed this elsewhere at length so I won't go into too much redundancy here - just know that I gave up on the band for quite a few years.
Sentenced final album ironically has more life in it that almost all their other rock oriented albums. This is nothing like the death metal of the early days, but it shows a vigor to it that infuses me with energy and even makes me want to bang my head from time to time.
The album's greatest strength is how versatile it is. Every song has it's own identity, yet every song is undoubtedly written by Sentenced. The common DNA between all of them being Ville's powerful voice and the uncompromising sorrow that the album oozes from every pore.
You've got the rocking opener May Today Become the Day with it's crazy strong opening riff complete with pinch harmonics. Contrast that with the slow and deliberate - almost ballad like - We Are but Falling Leaves. Completely different in sound, yet very much belonging on the same album. Not many bands can do this.
The deeper you get into the album the more this becomes apparent. There isn't a bad song on here. Yes, some songs are stronger than others (Vengeance is Mine fucking rocks), but not a single one gets the skip from me.
One of the other great strengths that the band leans into here is the production, particularly on the guitars and bass. They have a hugely commanding presence and crunch to them that gives the music a biting edge, particularly on the low end. The thump of the bass is enough to get my blood pumping on pretty much every song.
I also have to mention the cameo and old call back to their death metal days with Where Waters Fall Frozen. This thing reeks of early 90's Scandinavian death metal to the point where it sounds like it could have come off the debut album from these guys. It's basically two riffs, but dammit I love this stuff.
Sentenced's career is one of the more interesting ones in metal/rock. The first few albums were ever changing yet always extreme. The band's second phase saw them start off strong but then fade into mediocrity for a bit only to finish off at their strongest. What an amazing send off.
Written March 20th 2024
No comments:
Post a Comment