Mistur : "In Memoriam"

We get loaded down with sub-genres, and I am as bad as any one when it comes to getting attached to my funeral doom or suicidal black metal, so it's good to hear just metal, you know, metal that is just metal. We might call Mistur melodic death metal, but that could be said for any music that is not doom or black metal these days, as the bulk of metal that is post- Opeth is characterized by growled vocals rather than sung or like this band does mixes the two. These guys have done time in bands like Vried and Galar, so they know their craft as they load their music with guitar solos and double bass, these guys still lend plenty of melody to their craft and not afraid to write actual songs. The second song is less engaging melo-death that leans more on it's thrashing speed and higher harsh screams with thick synths in the background. The tight hammering intro to "First Born" son was on point, but as I feared the momentum the song roars into in an attempt to have some blackness is like trying to brush your teeth with a tidal wave. There is a pretty mean riff that the song tightens into that offers some pay off at the midway point of this ten minute epic. They do throw some head banging goodness at you, but the rule around here is cool riffs alone do not make a good song. The melodic solos attempt to challenge this, but I feel the first four minutes of the song were wasted cause they were hiding the best stuff for the middle of the song.

"Matriarch's Lament" blows by me in a blur. It's well played , but not very original. This could be any one of a thousand bands. There is more personality to "The Sight" which has a few Iron Maiden like guitar flourishes. There are some very tight and punchy riffs that show up here. At 11 minutes it begins to wear on me a little as I'm so over the ten plus minute song in metal or any other genre, this song however has less fat to be trimmed than others on this album. The final song "Tears of Remembrance" stars off on more melodic footing.  Three minutes in and their more symphonic approach has already taken a few twists and turns in this heavily melodic approach. The album is dense and dark production wise and the more melodic elements do not detract from the heaviness or shower it with cheese.

The fact this album is closed out with big solos and a more majestic build is a good way for things to get wrapped up and creates more of a climax for the album as a whole, the focus shifts to the instrumentation as the growls grow more sparse. I'll give this album an 8 as it is really well done. I can appreciate where they are going with this and the attention to detail they put into their craft. I am not sure how much play time this will get, but fans of more conventional metal than what I normally listen to will throw their horns high for these guys. The guitar solo is their friend and used tastefully enen at their most indulgent.