Deathlike Silence

Saturday Night Evil

Written by: TL on 13/02/2009 19:17:08

It takes me less than five seconds of listening before I've established prejudice against Deathlike Silence and their second LP "Saturday Night Evil". It takes less than one full spin of the disc to reassure that my prejudice is justified. From the first pretentious guitar solo that opens the album it is clear as crystal that this is heavy metal with gothic overtones, the kind of which is peddled shamelessly to the longhaired masses of the German underground by the truckload. And they have a female singer and are from Finland. Surprise, surprise..

Now in all fairness, "Saturday Night Evil" is not 100% useless, as some of the faster tracks like the second "And You Cry" proves. Here it sounds like the band is trying to mimic Iron Maiden, with even the singer aping the typical power metal singing style of Bruce Dickinson and Dio. The song is rather samey throughout, but it is by no means as annoying as the pretentious speed with which most of the other songs crawl by. The arrangement is just as classic as everything else: The rhytm guitar serves power chorded riffage that is as tired as your ears would be after listening to Ozzy Osbourne singing live, while the synth delivers some contrived melody for Ms Maya to sing upon, backed by the occasional gang choir until the lead comes in with a solo that seems to echo all the way from the 80's to my speakers. I know I might sound like this band never really had a shot with me, but seriously you should give it a listen if that's what you think. The simplicity and predictability of both the style and the composition prevents any momentum from ever being gained, and when the majority of the songs travel at only-slightly-above-doom-metal speed, the only thing I can think while they're on is "man I wish this song would end already".

I'm sure this record will still sell a gazillion records in Germany where a lot of people still seem to dig this kind of thing, and I honestly hope that all the buyers enjoy it and feel that they get their money's worth, after all, the production and the craftsmanship is all in order, however it just can't compete in the context of a contemporary music scene. Deathlike Silence call their music 'Gravedigger Metal' because it is, as they say "dark coloured, melodic, atmospheric metal, spiced with strong horror-romance elements, and performed with the dignity of a gravedigger". I find it fitting too, but that's more because I can't believe it will be many years before they'll have to actually start digging up graves to find anyone who's interested in their stuff. So the verdict says that while technically this record is acceptable, artistically it represents an expression that fell dormant some twenty years ago, and even if that doesn't completely scare you away, I recommend getting only the fastest of the songs on it. It just says it all when a cover of Mike Oldfield's classic "Moonlight Shadow" is the best song on the album, even though it can't even compare to the original.

4

Download: And You Cry, Troops Of Armageddon
For The Fans Of: Pretty Maids, Iron Maiden, Virgin Steele
Listen: myspace.com/deathlikesilencerules

Release Date: 28.01.2009
Spinefarm

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