Be'Lakor : "Vessels "

Right from the onset of the new album by this Austrailian death metal band I knew something was different. All too often the term melodic death metal means something is going to go very wrong and we are going to be more concerned with clean singing and shredding than kicking your ass. I would not say this band is really concerned with kicking ass. They have the synths and the clean guitar tones. Which in and of themselves if placed in the right hands can be valuable tools to create metal with. The vocals are a low growl that has been dipped in effects, which is fine by me it gives it a little bit of a Morbid Angel edge.

This is their fourth album so they clearly know what they are doing. I had to listen to the second song several times to really take it all in. I think these guys are more progressive death metal, but by progressive it doesn't mean that they are wasting your time with a bunch of wanking. By the time I am at the third song I've resolved myself to the fact this entire album is going to be listened to several times to absorb it all. The intensity is taken down a notch on "Withering Strands". The jam out into some interesting places similar to Tribulation, but without the wink to 70's rock. If you are going to make 7 minute songs then these guys know what it takes to make every minute count.Things take a lighter mood on "Roots to Sever" with the growled vocals remaining the only death metal element. It begins to remind me of some of the late 90s Euro-metal in this regard, but this isn't your typical Swedish melo-death. I can hear where fans of older Dark Tranquility would like this.There is a little more frolicking to "Whelm" even amid it's more aggressive ebb and flow.

 "A Thread Dissolves " finds them getting a little darker and even adding a somewhat more sonic approach to the initial attack. Then there is the soaring and more conventional approach to metal taken on "Grasping Light' with an almost goth vocal touching the verse. The song winds around some adventurous passages, some flexing the shred factor of the guitars more than others. The album ends with the I'll round it up to a 9 as it sounds great, my only qualm is in the second half it beings to have moments that sound the same, but otherwise it's a great balance.