I’m always partial to some Melodic Death Metal. This one has all the right credentials. It’s the German band Night In Gales’s 5th album since their formation in 1995, and was mixed by the Metal timelord Dan Swanö.
I did detect the attempt to do something different here. “Five Scars” has the chimes of In Flames and co, but it breaks away from that. The dramatic classical piece at the beginning doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the rest of it, other than perhaps as a link with the odd orchestral insertion during the album. It was good to get into the punchy Metal of “This Neon Grave”. By “Days of the Mute” the sound is deeper and more emotional but it’s not helped by the singer who has an unpleasant voice and sounds as if he’s suffering from a sore throat. It’s atmospheric as a track but the harmonies are unconvincing. The title track “Five Scars” sounds like Hardcore but it and “Void Venture” which follows lost strength for me due to their unpleasantly barked-out chorus lines.
I really like the aggression, the groove and the energy. The varied and lively drum work and rhythm guitar give great power to this album. Where it goes wrong for me is when the band deviate from the norm and try something unusual. The concept of harmonies on “Whiteout” would be ok but they’re flat and horrible. The guitar flourish on “Life Denied” is different but it just sounds odd and detracts from the flow. I prefer the robust Melodic Death tracks where the band just stick to a straight line. There’s plenty of action on tracks like “The Tides of November”, which is really refreshing and one to savour. The album finishes strongly too with “Blood Song” and the emotionally-charged “Blackmouth Blues” which packs punch without having to go off at a tangent.
The publicity for “Five Scars” suggests that this work captures all the strengths of the previous albums. Maybe it captures too much. I thought there were the makings of something really interesting here. The basic instrumentals are spot on but I didn’t like the vocals, and for that my enjoyment was spoilt of what could have been a really good album.
http://www.night-in-gales.com
Andrew Doherty
MTUK HOME
