Angry Metal Guy

Lacrimas Profundere – The Grandiose Nowhere
Rating: 3.5/5.0 –Not angry, barely metal, but still (very) good.
Label: Napalm Records
Websites: lacrimas.com | myspace.com/lacrimasprofundere
Release Dates: EU: 30.04.2010 | US: 05.11.2010

Alright all you self-loathing, gothic creepozoids and lovers of exquisite pain, step right up and get the perfect soundtrack for stalking your ex. Yes, it’s The Grandiose Nowhere by those Germanic gloom meisters Lacrimas Profundere. Album number nine shows these boys up to their usual dark tricks and giving you some hard charging, gloom infested rock n droll with plenty of misery for those who love the cold grip of melancholia. Lest you think that doesn’t sound like fun, I am thrilled to report this is a mighty rocking and rollicking goth-o-thon that makes you nod your head no matter how badly you want to sit and stare at the ground in misery.

Now some will say, this is not angry and it sure as hell ain’t metal. Well, Slayer this certainly isn’t, but it is heavy enough to warrant mention on a site as angry and metallic as this one. There are all shades to the metal genre these days and these guys and their gothic kin have a seat at the table. Disclaimers and speechifying aside for now, back to the review.

Keeping the formula intact that worked so well on 2006’s Filthy Notes from Frozen Hearts and 2008’s Songs for the Last View, Lacrimas Profundere continue to churn out excellent and catchy goth-metal. Sounding like a heavier H.I.M. or a really, really pissed off version of The Cure, The Grandiose Nowhere comes out of the graveyard full of piss and vinegar with “Be Mine in Tears” and never really looks back. From start to finish, The Grandiose Nowhere blasts along the gothic highway at a brisk pace keeping things lively but always leaving enough anguish and pain in the vocals and lyrics so listeners can mourn whatever it is they are currently mourning. Where else do you get such classic lyrics like “spit on me after I’ve been shot,” “punish me darling, punish me” and “I’m the guilt, you’re the lust, turning everything to dust.” That is good stuff right there folks, don’t deny it!

This is a very vocally focused production, with front man Rob Vitacca way up front in the mix and everything else left struggling for space in the background. Fortunately, Rob has the perfect gothic-metal voice and style of singing and comes across as a tougher Ville Valo (H.I.M.) with some moments of Peter Steele styled guttural croons (R.I.P. Big Pete). The guitars are there but could be more present in the mix and packing a little extra punch. However, that won’t prevent anyone from enjoying the twelve songs on The Grandiose Nowhere since each is pretty solid and accessible. When Lacrimas Profundere speeds things up they are at their best with gems like “The Letter,” “Lips,” and “Her Occasion of Sin.” However, the slower, somber numbers clearly have their place too and “No Matter Where You Shoot Me Down” (oh so classic goth title) is a great example of the doom and gloom rock these guys do so well. There really are no weak tracks here and this is superior to 2008’s Songs for the Last View.

When it’s time to sit in the dark feeling miserable and lonely, this is a great album to throw on as you brood into a glass of blood red wine. It will allow you to remain plenty morose and self-pitying, yet it’s far too rocking to ever put you to sleep. Crank this sucker and get glum!

Insomnium – Across the Dark
Rating: 3.0/5.0 – Enjoyable and well done, but doesn’t quite stick
Label: Candlelight
Websites: myspace.com/insomniumband | insomnium.com
Release Date(s): FI: 9.9.2009 | EU: 26.09.2009 | USA: 09.15.2009 (apparently this album was delayed)

Insomnium is one of those bands that rides on the border of melodic death metal and progressive rock, straddling the fence between good, solid heavy music and the proggy stuff that all the sadboy metal guys listen to.  Those guys who secretly love The Cure and Depeche Mode and end up making stuff that sounds like newer Katatonia, Anathema or Amorphis.  This isn’t really a critique, but it lets you know right off the bat where these Finnish melodic metallers are standing in reference to the never ending “is melody metal” war that seems to be going on these days.

And these guys are very good at what they’re doing.  Across the Dark is a highly polished, excellently produced record.  The music is melodic and fairly interesting, and sounds like an expert blend of Whoracle/Colony-era In Flames, Opeth and modern Amorphis (though, admittedly these guys use a lot more death metal vocals).  While it starts a bit slowly, these Finns have you in the grip of their darkest dreams and melancholy aspirations in no-time, transferring smoothly between the heavy and the progressive with the ease that very few bands possess.

There are issues with this record, however.  The first is the vague feeling that I’ve heard this all before.  It’s not like I consider Insomnium‘s sound to be a direct rip off of any one band, but instead these guys are a bit like the stranger who you meet that you swear you recognize from somewhere.  They consistently tell you that they’ve never been to that specific bar, and they don’t know that person you know from college, but you’re still fucking positive that you know the guy.  I spent this whole album thinking to myself, “man, have I listened to these guys before?”

The second thing that I’m not terribly keen on is that the clean vocals and chorus parts seem a bit formulaic, wandering a little too close to the Killswitch Engage territory for my own tastes.  Clean vocals are fine for me, but the way that they’re built into big catchy choruses, when the rest is heavy melodic death metal just rubs me the wrong way after being inundated with metalcore bands jumping on the KSE bandwagon.  Those parts sound too polished, too clean, too commercial for me to really feel like there’s anything dangerous about this band.  Instead, it sounds like they’ve got a producer sitting in the room going “and now, my friends, you need a catchy chorus!  I know just the guy to write one for you!”

However, that isn’t the whole album and that certainly isn’t the feeling that I get from it all.  There is a good deal of excellent melodic death metal riffs on here that I really dig, the clean vocals on “Lay of Autumn” stand out for me, and the album has a flow that it is really important for me and that speaks to talented writers with a feel for detail.  All-in-all Across the Dark is not the strongest record I’ve heard this year, but if you’re a fan of melodic death metal, progressive death metal or stuff in that vein you probably won’t go wrong buying it.