Meltgsnow - Black Penance
Pulverised Records
Gothic Heavy Metal
10 songs (47:44)
Release year: 2010
Meltgsnow, Pulverised Records
Reviewed by Khelek

Well it's another week and another unknown metal band. This time we have Meltgsnow (apparently pronounced as Melting Snow), hailing from Singapore, not a place known for its heavy metal. These guys have actually been around for about 10 years or so, releasing their debut album in 2003. They play a pretty unique mixture of gothic and heavy metal which is similar in some ways to The 69 Eyes (think Wasting The Dawn). Vocalist Lord Insanity has a strange style, sometimes using a pretty typical rough heavy metal voice, and sometimes a higher pitched screaming/shouting. If you can get past the vocals however, there’s some really well-written music here that shows these guys have really put some work into this album.

The intro track is a foreboding mix of synths and the spoken, croaking voice of Lord Insanity. The first song, Betrayal, is an interesting mixture of something like goth n' roll and traditional heavy metal. The vocalist gives quite an intense performance, although his vocals sound a bit strange from time to time, as alternating between deep growls and high-pitched screams will do. Overall it's a pretty energetic song that is fun to listen to, even though it might go on for a tad too long. The guitar work here is great, but it gets even better in the next track Devil's Mind Ride. Opening with melodic yet extremely heavy guitar lines and very thick drums, and Lord Insanity soon comes in with some traditional heavy metal style vocals, which get to a higher pitch as the song continues. A quick, hard-hitting track that leads into another good tune, Empty Sky. While you can't find much originality in the riffs, the song itself has a solid sound to it, and the vocals here are a bit more subdued and flow with the music very well. Many of these songs start off with familiar sounding leads or riffs, which definitely gives this album an immediate accessibility. Lord Insanity's singing has definitely been influenced by 80s thrash bands such as Destruction and Overkill, which sounds strange, but that's what I think of when I hear his more intense, screaming vocals. After a couple slower, more melodic songs, Another Lie and Death Takes My Soul try to turn the energy back up, but for me both fall flat. The riffs and general sound has already been heard on the album, and the large portions of repetition in each one really do nothing for me. In a live setting this might be more tolerable, but on an album it simply gets boring. The final track Love For My Seraph is basically the band's ultimate fusion of gothic and heavy metal. On one side you've got some depressive sort of melodies and clean singing with lyrics about lost love, darkness, etc. Towards the end there are even some gothy female vocals. On the other side the Overkill-esque vocals are also present in this song in the heavier, faster parts, which use melodic yet aggressive guitar riffs. It's not a bad song, but once again there’s a lot going on in it, so you've got to hear it several times before you can really enjoy it.

In my opinion Meltgsnow have accomplished something that is somewhat unique, however I can also sense it is not something everyone, even fans of gothic metal, will enjoy. The elements simply don't come together as perfectly as one would hope for an adventurous album such as this. For one thing, the thrashier, screaming vocals often come off sounding out of place among clean electric guitar melodies and melancholy atmosphere. It's simply a clash. That being said, there are some really good songs/melodies created here that can really get in your head. Take Crown Of Serpents for example. Starts out with a very catchy heavy metal guitar lead, then descends down to a more depressive level with clean vocals and guitar. The chorus takes over with heavy guitar and the rougher, high pitched vocals. Yes it's weird, but it's also damn catchy. However, at the end of the day there's simply too much up-and-down within many of the songs for me to enjoy listening to them a lot. The clash of thrashy heavy metal and gothic atmosphere simply does not work sometimes, and I have also heard bands that combine depression and aggression together brilliantly. There are some great ideas here, but the song structures simply need some fine-tuning to be really memorable for me.

Killing Songs :
Devil’s Mind Ride, Empty Sky, Black Penance
Khelek quoted 70 / 100
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