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May 17, 2012 |
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01. Fatal Design
02. Chameleon Halo
03. Out Of You
04. Surrender
05. Oblivion
06. Twisted
07. Insomniac
08. My Serenity
09. Break Me
10. Curtained Life
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It is pretty amazing today to see that all Metal and Rock media exposure on this side of the Atlantic is almost exclusively reserved for domestic acts, as if the North American market has been hermetically closed to any formation coming from Europe regardless of how talented they are; some of them are so skilled that they probably would blow many local acts out of the picture. Hailing from Lahti, Finland, ENTWINE is the perfect example and "Fatal Design" is their fifth full-length album to date. The sound throughout the album is enormous and was mixed under the strict supervision of Mikko Karmilla at Finnvox Studio (CHARON, NIGHTWISH, CHILDREN OF BODOM).
Very much in the spirit of their previous disc, "DiEversity", this CD contains a collection of ten Pop-flavored Gothic Metal gems. But don't get me wrong; what I mean by Pop-flavored is extremely and catchy melodies all executed in the perfect tradition of Scandinavian Metal bands with all the guts and effective aggressiveness it implies. Just listen to Gothic hymns such as the title track, "Fatal Design", or "Chameleon Halo" as well as "Out Of You" with its killer guitar solo. Then there is the bluesy "Insomniac", with which you will also notice that despite the morose aspect of the subjects explored by ENTWINE, there seems to be, on top of the usual anger and grief, a slight touch of optimism and even happiness in their music, which makes it extremely interesting compared to other artists in the same genre.
The fourth track, "Surrender", is one of the strongest compositions in ENWINE's catalog. In this song, the band displays perfect balance between a very radio-friendly melody combined with angry riffs. The album also encloses the very slow-tempo and TYPE O NEGATIVE-inspired "Oblivion" as well as the very heavy and doomy "My Serenity". However the priority on this album seems to be given to mid to fast tempo compositions such as "Twisted" and the very catchy "Break Me". It's hard to believe that "Fatal Design" doesn't include any ballads as closer "Curtained Life" ends the album in an expected melancholic manner.
With such talent and inspiration, the fact that ENTWINE doesn't get proper exposure on our shores proves one thing: the selection offered on North American Rock radios sucks! It also explains why every day more and more people get tired of the same crap offered on FM and decide to turn to satellite radio as an alternative option in order to hear something new and refreshing. In the meantime "Fatal Design" is one of this year's favourites and I highly recommend it.
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