Just released from Norway’s Paradogmata is this lengthy album. Featuring seven tracks and three bonuses (a demo, a rough mix and an alternative version) there’s plenty in terms of runtime, but what are we listening to?
The band’s overall sound straddles the worlds of thrash, death and black metal with one of the first similar-sounding bands I can think of being Kataklysm, which is no bad thing. A mixture of harsh and blasting, with slower and steadier head-pounding, even the longer tracks (opener “Endetidsbundet” runs over 8 minutes) seem to fly past. There are some nice, gentle intros as well which show off the band’s range. “The Princes in the Tower”‘s is more than vaguly remeniscent of Alter Bridge’s “Blackbird”, for example, just a tad more downtuned.
Most of the tracks are at the more face-blasting end of the scale, with the occasional sidesteps into guitar solo territory. “The Cleansing Flood”, though, opts for the heavy and grinding approach and is a welcome break for the neck muscles. “The Princes in the Tower” is the other song which could almost be by a different band. It features far more clean vocals, and a style more like Iron Maiden. While not a bad song, it sticks out quite a bit and would probably work best as a bonus song. However, it’s included on the album twice, the second time as an alternative version, so you end up remembering it more than any other song. Which is weird given that it’s so much at odds with the other songs.
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Musically and in terms of production, I can’t fault Endetid. I can forgive its schizophrenic nature as well, just about. I’d recommend stopping at the end of track 7 to get the most out of it. The addtional tracks are worth a listen but they drag you out of the whole thing if you play them every time you have the album on.
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Endetid is out now
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