Let’s be honest to each other. We all faced moments like this. You feel down both mentally and physically, you lost the sense of purpose, everything irritates you and you see no end to hopelessness. Some of us reach for a drink during times like this, some pop a pill or look for a “recreational medicine”, others cry. While not immune to the above, I, ladies and gentlemen, reach for a Sentenced album. Whether I am drunk or crying, whether I am driving on the road without a destination or I am in between the four walls with headphones on, Sentenced always hits the spot. It either brings the sense of relief, or simply blows the bottom out of misery and ends the suffering.

Why am I writing this archive now, you ask? For starters, I have missed on my second weekly review, but life threw me a curveball recently and Sentenced have been a frequent guest in my player. Seeing that only Crimson and Cold White Light have the coverage on this site I picked Frozen to be next.

To all of you Sentenced purists, I know the band has evolved, and I don’t really care. I am a proud owner of Shadows of the Past and North from Here, and of course Amok and Love and Death EP. For me Sentenced did not end when Taneli Jarva left (and I do follow his The Black League), and I certainly don’t pay any attention to the screams “the band plays commercial gothic rock – we don’t care for them anymore”. For me the magic of Sentenced is there whether they swim around in the murky melodic death metal waters, or lay out a clean catchy groove of today. For me they have always managed to remain elegant, soulful and full of mystique.

Frozen is the second album with Ville Laihiala on vocals. While Down was a transition album of sorts, Frozen has shaped the band’s sound of today significantly. Setting up the mood with Kaamos, the band plunges into Farewell and Dead Leaves, two crunchy songs impossible to forget with their catchy choruses. A crowd favorite The Suicider, the rocker of the album, is followed by my personal favorite The Rain Comes Falling Down. This song is a whirlpool of emotions, engulfing the listener with the verse and chorus lines, only to completely suffocate him/her to tears with the unbelievable solo. Heavy crunch of the verse in Drown Together contrasts so well with the atmospherics and backup vocals of the choir. The album ends with Mourn, my favorite instrumental of all time. That lead guitar by Tenkula just burns a permanent mark on one’s heart. Dedicated to his grandfather (I understand) it is a special track in which a musician’s soul has been poured. All songs on Frozen, the ones I mentioned and others, are dynamic, melancholically melodic and you don’t want them to end. You are happy the next song is starting, but you miss the previous one at the same time. This makes you want to spin the album again and again.

Now about those lyrics. I wonder why people don’t discuss it more. Every review of Sentenced I ever read just sidesteps the issue. Well, boys and girls, it is about suicide and “regretting to live every day of my life”. Personal, love being lost or their graves being dug, Sentenced seem to extend the listener that self-sacrificial Cleopatra’s cup. I don’t know why Sentenced write the lyrics they do (even though I once met bassist Sami Kukkohovi personally I failed to ask that question). However, it can have a dual effect. Some, like my wife, for example, think it is horrible people put such thoughts on paper. I argue with her. Admit, don’t you sometimes, albeit rarely, feel getting up in the morning or getting to bed at night that “it would be better if you were never born at all”? When I put Sentenced on, I feel that there is someone out there who has it worse than me. Sometimes I feel like it helps me cleanse off my problems, sometimes I feel like joining them in their depression and staying the downturned course. It is up to you, my friends, which road you choose. One thing is certain for sure, my world has been better with Sentenced in it than without.