A Canorous Quintet hail from Sweden and as such, play a
brand of Gothenburg melodic death metal directly associated with their homeland.
Their debut Silence of the World Beyond,
landed in 1996 and at the time when fellow countrymen In Flames, Dark Tranquility
and Gates of Ishtar were gaining a lot of momentum within the melodic death
scene. The movement as a whole had been gaining speed since At the Gates and Hypocrisy
lit the world on fire with their early works in the genre and the time was ripe
for new bands to show off their chops.
The music on Silence
of the World Beyond is a combination of At the Gates and Dissection; a blend
of death and black metal that dwells in the sounds of macabre vocals and melodic
instrumentation. As with most melodic death, the guitars take center stage and immediate
hook the listener with strong and catchy leads. The riffs keep the focus on the
melodic nature of the music, while the rhythms provide a powerful display of time
shifts and solos. The use of tremolo picking adds to the ferocity of the album
and makes for an excellent harmonization when guitars play side by side. The
bass guitar, although makes its appearance throughout the album, is not
necessarily featured as the twin guitars tend to garner most of the attention.
When the bass is heard, it makes its presence known by churning out thick and
bouncy chords that add an extra layer to the music.
The harsh and raspy vocals are not uncommon to the genre,
but they offer more than simply a standard sound. With such beautiful melodies
created by the music, the shriek like echoes of the vocals provide a bitter
sweet contrast to the melodic atmosphere, which results in a pleasant yet frightening
experience all in one sitting. Yes, they are familiar to the scene, but remember,
a voice is an instrument and much like blast beats are almost always associated
with death metal, raspy vocals go hand in hand with the Gothenburg style. It’s
the shtick of the style and on Silence of
the World Beyond not only are they well sung, but they mesh well with the
other instruments creating a cohesive unit.
The drums are manned by Fredrik Andersson, who is best known
for his work with Amon Amarth, which now that you know that, will note the similarities.
I don’t mean to say that this sounds like Amon Amarth in the purest sense, but the
powerful and deep bass sounding drums that would appear on Amon Amarth are
clearly present on Silence of the World
Beyond. Here they help add to the rhythms and inject a nice punch to the overall
intensity of the album, but also provide a nice base sound for the guitars to
flourish over top.
A Canorous Quintet’s debut although not dissimilar to many
other releases rooted in the Gothenburg sound at the time, is well executed
slab of Blackened melodic death metal. The speed of the guitars, power of the
drums and furious vocals will satisfy fans among various genres of black and
death metal like. Fans of At the Gates, Gates of Ishtar and Ablaze My Sorrow
should not miss out on Silence of the
World Beyond.
Highlights: “The Orchid’s Sleep” “Spellbound” “In the Twilight
of Fear”
Rating: 4
No comments:
Post a Comment