Artist: Cinders Fall
Title: The Reckoning
Type: E.P.
Label: Transcend Records

As cruel and heartless as I oft am considered, never have I delighted in the schadenfreude of watching a band play their hearts out to an empty venue, miles from home, but to a handful of disinterested moshers. Such was the case when Cinders Fall headlined at the local dive, when it was clear that while they did their best to put on a professional show, it really wasn’t their crowd and I think the only cheer they got was when they left the stage. That was four years ago and whilst perhaps not my cup of tea, it was clear they had something about them so it’s good to see they have made some progress with signing to Transcend Records.

This is the second E.P. by the Essex mob, and if it’s anything to go by then they have quite a future ahead. These five tracks are packed full of vigour and do a fine job of hooking you in. Their sound is undeniably modern and is heavily rooted in the Gothenburg camp of melodic death metal. It’s too easy to draw comparisons to the likes of In Flames and The Haunted on tracks like ‘Dead Zone’ with its thrashed up riffage and an apocalyptic thread running through it. The keyboards here are far from intrusive and on ‘The Reckoning’ in particular protrudes a layer of sorrow and melancholy that really adds that melodic feel to the music.

‘Beyond Existence’ shows off some great, jagged guitars as does ‘The Reckoning’ which mixes a certain amount of technicality with atmosphere and this leads the CD to finish on a really strong note. The drumming is solid and blasted out with power, while the vocals are meaty and yet delivered with a slight melodic rasp (You can also breathe a sigh of relief if you are worried this will be filled with whiny choruses; there are none here!) Overall this is a fully commendable album for fans of melodic death metal; the right mix of heaviness and tunefulness to make this work and will have your head banging from start to end. Check it out.

http://www.myspace.com/cindersfall
http://www.myspace.com/transcendmedia

Luci Herbert

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