Review:

on 2011-06-15 CharlesMartel Said:

I cannot say I have ever heard of this Finnish band before and was less than enthusiastic when I checked out their earlier releases and found that it was all a bit too much sprawling metal. However, in a year which had thus far provided little of real significance, I found that the somewhat stock standard approach of the band on this album to be rather welcome. After all, there is nothing really exciting or new here, just a pretty good restatement of what has gone before.

The most noticeable thing about the band  on this album at least  is that there appears to be precious little about their sound that is recognisably Finnish. And it certainly is not metal. Clearly they have developed their sound to appeal to a wider audience and so have smoothed out anything which could have set them apart from any one of a dozen other bands occupying the space in the musical firmament. The truth is that when you listen to this, you have heard it all before.

This is apparent right from the start with the opener, "In Venere Veritas". The spoken intro - "Let's fall apart together now" - is spoken with a voice the neutrality of which places it in one of those indistinct localities which could be anywhere in the northern half of the United States. What follows is initially confusing. My first reaction was this was a kind of cross between pop-punk and emo, something aimed squarely at spotty teenage boys who have begun to move out of awkward adolescence but haven't quite found their feet in the new, largely untried world of two genders.

The rest of the tracks present themselves as a theme without actually trying too hard to do it. There is a loose thread running through all the tracks, but this is nothing new  either in terms of the concept of the loose thread itself or the subject matter it concerns itself with. The sub-title of the album really does encapsulate this  "Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice". The album takes you through a series of little vignettes each meant to show you something of the pleasures, the perils and the pitfalls of love. They even mention the subtitle of the album on "Katherine Wheel".

The music is fast paced and full of power chords and steady rhythms  they have even put the beat count in the track listing on the reverse of the album just in case you want to play along and need some indication of what speed to set your metronome at. What sets the band apart from all the rest is that the music is of a higher quality than is generally available. Each track has a rhythm guitar which provides a solid grounding while a second guitar hovers over it providing a melody which pops in and out of prominence as the track progresses. Nowhere is this more apparent that on the best track on the album, "Disarm Me (With Your Loneliness)" which, despite the silly emo-inspired name, has some competent and rather effective guitar work. It is not going to make you sit up and go 'wow' but is part of a trait which makes this album stand out from the crowd.

However, the album is let down by some occasionally stupid lyrics. I am not going to suggest that this may be a product of the band writing songs in their second language, but it may well be that the imagery they are trying to conjure up is not conveyed well by their use of words. For instance, on "Katherine Wheel" the song is about a girl of that name, rather than about the instrument of martyrdom of the saint of the same name. And then it contains one of the silliest lines I have heard all year 

"Holding hands won't be enough
In a world giving head to a gun"

The English language may be flexible, but it is not interminably so.

When all is said and done, this is a competent and quite enjoyable release. If you are disillusioned with what is around now, it is not going to relieve you of that ennui. If you are looking for something imaginative and unique, then go elsewhere. But if you want a solid, rollicking piece of lightweight indie pop with good melodies, then this is a pretty good place to start, as long as you don't expect too much from a genre with inherent limitations.
Rating: 6/10

on 2010-05-24 SolitaryMan Said:

They've always adhered to a certain sound and, granted, that sound is very much affixed to the images they've associated with the band. But there were some albums early on that really sounded somewhat refreshing and enjoyable, my favorite of theirs being "Razorblade Romance". It is very hard to look past their cheesy lyrics and some people will turn away as soon as they hear Ville Valo begin to croon/moan/whine. But they've hit some high notes, wrote some catchy songs, and occasionally manage to achieve a certain amount of uniqueness and originality. I've yet to hear this album, but I have little doubt it'll effect me like the rest: a few highlights mixed with far too much crap.
Not Rated

on 2010-03-24 kev_stev Said:

god awful
Rating: 1/10