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trax:
1. My Antichrist 3:25
2. Frozen Angel 4:07
3. Down 3:42
4. To Hell 4:07
5. Savior 5:03
6. Black Gold 3:18
7. We Rock 3:57
8. Always & Never 4:34
9. Tell Me Why 3:31
10. If You Go 3:56
11. Self-Righteous Fuck 4:47
12. Forever and Ever 4:27
Bonus Material:
13. C.U.S. 3:14
14. No Way Back 5:21
15. Reach Out 3:3
Band
Petri ‘Pete’ Lindroos: piss-poor screams, guitars
Kristian ‘Kride’ Ranta: cloyingly saccharine vocals, guitars
Malakias: guitars
Jukka Koskinen: bass
Heikki ‘Kermis’ Saari: drums
Tuomas Planman: unnecessary keyboard augmentation
Did you know that if you append the title of this album to the band’s moniker, you end up with the word "northern"? Did you know that the aforementioned band is from Finland, a country in the northernmost part of the northern hemisphere? Did you know... that the average Norther song is about as simple and prosaic as the above wordplay?
Seriously, this stuff is predictable as all hell, and not predictable in the good, "wow, that melody resolved quite nicely" way. Predictable as in "Holy shit, I fucking get it! Shut the hell up already!" Seriously, there’s some modern-sounding pseudo-death metal riffs, some "melodic death metal" Iron Maiden-wannabe (or, more likely, Children of Bodom-wannabe) stuff, some solos, keyboards, bad vocals... that’s it. Verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/penis/cumbucket/suicide.
Norther’s sound is situated squarely in-between Children of Bodom’s over-the-top glam death shredding and Wintersun’s slick coldness. The only thing that makes those two bands at all tolerable is the occasionally interesting guitar work. Norther, however, is content with the absolutely mediocre: guitar solos are more of a fifteen-second timewaster than anything else. It’s worth noting that the guitar sound is so horribly compressed that it sounds like a keyboard, making the keyboard/guitar dueling solos even more pathetic.
I assume that this album is supposed to be catchy, but I sure as hell can’t remember any melodies apart from one admittedly cool guitar flourish near the beginning of "Self-Righteous Fuck". It probably doesn’t help that every song on this album is exactly the same. Sure, they may seem a little different on the surface (some might have more techno-sounding keyboards, others might use more clean vocals), but really, once you peel back the shiny exterior, it’s the same old shit. Semi-aggressive percussive riffs, occasional Bodom riffs, a few solos, keyboards, and bad vocals. Did I mention that already? Well, sorry about that, but there’s really not much to say about this whole sordid affair. Why the hell is this album so damn long anyway? I believe that Kreator wrote a song about this band: NO REASON TO EXIST!
1. My Antichrist 3:25
2. Frozen Angel 4:07
3. Down 3:42
4. To Hell 4:07
5. Savior 5:03
6. Black Gold 3:18
7. We Rock 3:57
8. Always & Never 4:34
9. Tell Me Why 3:31
10. If You Go 3:56
11. Self-Righteous Fuck 4:47
12. Forever and Ever 4:27
Bonus Material:
13. C.U.S. 3:14
14. No Way Back 5:21
15. Reach Out 3:3
Band
Petri ‘Pete’ Lindroos: piss-poor screams, guitars
Kristian ‘Kride’ Ranta: cloyingly saccharine vocals, guitars
Malakias: guitars
Jukka Koskinen: bass
Heikki ‘Kermis’ Saari: drums
Tuomas Planman: unnecessary keyboard augmentation
Did you know that if you append the title of this album to the band’s moniker, you end up with the word "northern"? Did you know that the aforementioned band is from Finland, a country in the northernmost part of the northern hemisphere? Did you know... that the average Norther song is about as simple and prosaic as the above wordplay?
Seriously, this stuff is predictable as all hell, and not predictable in the good, "wow, that melody resolved quite nicely" way. Predictable as in "Holy shit, I fucking get it! Shut the hell up already!" Seriously, there’s some modern-sounding pseudo-death metal riffs, some "melodic death metal" Iron Maiden-wannabe (or, more likely, Children of Bodom-wannabe) stuff, some solos, keyboards, bad vocals... that’s it. Verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/penis/cumbucket/suicide.
Norther’s sound is situated squarely in-between Children of Bodom’s over-the-top glam death shredding and Wintersun’s slick coldness. The only thing that makes those two bands at all tolerable is the occasionally interesting guitar work. Norther, however, is content with the absolutely mediocre: guitar solos are more of a fifteen-second timewaster than anything else. It’s worth noting that the guitar sound is so horribly compressed that it sounds like a keyboard, making the keyboard/guitar dueling solos even more pathetic.
I assume that this album is supposed to be catchy, but I sure as hell can’t remember any melodies apart from one admittedly cool guitar flourish near the beginning of "Self-Righteous Fuck". It probably doesn’t help that every song on this album is exactly the same. Sure, they may seem a little different on the surface (some might have more techno-sounding keyboards, others might use more clean vocals), but really, once you peel back the shiny exterior, it’s the same old shit. Semi-aggressive percussive riffs, occasional Bodom riffs, a few solos, keyboards, and bad vocals. Did I mention that already? Well, sorry about that, but there’s really not much to say about this whole sordid affair. Why the hell is this album so damn long anyway? I believe that Kreator wrote a song about this band: NO REASON TO EXIST!