Engel [Sweden]
Blood of Saints
2012
Full Length
Season of Mist
Industrial/Melodic Death Metal
The personal hallmark for industrial death metal is the excellent The Project Hate, who have over the years honed their skills and crafted a niche sound in their music. So understandably, seeing how Engel is touted as a band fusing industrial elements with melodic death metal got me slightly excited, perhaps expecting another band that can emulate the style that The Project Hate has crafted over the years.
Unfortunately, unlike the straight-up industrial sound that The Project Hate utilises in their music, Engel is more ambitious on their new album, Blood of Saints, and this can be heard through the heavy dubstep influences that are present right from the start on Question Your Place. As though dubstep weren't a bastardised genre as it is already, the band takes it further, and what results is a rather messy sounding record, with the band attempting to sound as varied as possible, only to result in an album that displays the band's aimlessness in their songwriting. While generally short songs are personally welcome, the short track lengths on Blood of Stains more often than not display the weakness in the band's songwriting, with most tracks ending unexpectedly without a proper ending to them.
The melodic death metal segments in the music also lean towards the "modern metal" sound that bands like In Flames and Soilwork have created in their post-2000 albums, with honestly very little that really resemble death metal at all. Songs like Frontline especially are reminiscent of In Flames' works, with the vocal style of Mangan and the aggressive riffing styles of guitarists Niclas and Marcus, and this doesn't say much seeing how I personally abhor the "modern metal" style of music. Of course, there is also the obligatory sappy ballad-sounding track, Feel Afraid, which borders on whiney and does not help in the grand scheme of things.
Having two guitarists in the band would also result in the expectation of at least some display of lead guitar works, but for some reason these are noticeably lacking, with few lead guitar spots present throughout the album, leaving one to wonder the purpose of having two guitarists in the band, as the main focus on the album seem to be in the riffs that are unleashed. Even when lead works are present, they are generic and don't really display the technical abilities of the guitarists.
To be honest though, on the very first listen to Blood of Saints, there was a certain charm in their music, bringing back memories of my first ventures into melodic death metal, though repeated listens saw the novelty of the music quickly wearing off. That said though, this would probably appeal to fans of modern melodic death metal with a different twist to the genre.
Engel on the internet:
Official website
YouTube
MySpace
Season of Mist
No comments:
Post a Comment
We moderate our comments. Hate mails, spam and non-constructive feedback will not be allowed.