Source: Album Artwork
Finnish Goth-Rock quintet Entwine have returned, with their seventh studio album in tow and a whole shed load of new material to please the little Goblins that live inside your ears. Anyone who has listened to the previous outing of these chaps will know what to expect: dark, brooding metal packed with deliciously over the top energy and tight musicianship packed with storming percussion and tasty guitar work that channels the best parts of HIM and Slipknot into one downright delectable mix. Let’s ‘ave a listen shall we?
Right out of the gate, there’s more drama found here than an entire season of game of thrones (maybe excluding season 5’s finale!), with ‘End Of Silence‘s chugging and wailing guitars throwing in a similar amount of brutality into the mix just to be on the safe side. A storming verse melts impeccably into an orchestrally jam-packed chorus that simply screams out for a sing along. Front-Man Mika Tauriainen shows himself to be one hell of a vocalist, smashing out roaring vocals with such utterly effortless sounding finesse, creating a sound that takes the emotion of Ville Valoe and the natural grit of Chris Cornell, combining the pair into a single sonic treat. A fantastic opener that really sets a high expectation as to what is set to follow.
‘Saint Of Sorrow‘ takes us down another equally dark path, with it’s overall sound being comparable to New-Grave pioneers New Years Day. Lots of energy and raw bleakness, yet with a little more of an anthem-like tone than would be typical of Ash Costello and her band of (not so) merry men. Moments of more typically metal madness also poke their way through, with the aforementioned Slipknot comparisons coming into play with hyper-aggressive, yet tightly constrained breakdowns rearing their head up for brief moments throughout the song’s running time. It’s an odd mix, but it works a lot better than it sounds on paper.
As the album goes on, there’s little in the way of change. Face-melting guitars, plenty of synthesizer action and orchestra based tension pave the way throughout most of the ten tracks, but as the old saying goes, don’t fix what isn’t broken. This is the sound, love it or hate it, these guys excel with. Around mid-way through, ‘Arise‘ opens with acoustic guitar strums that seem to immediately give away the intention of something a little more marketable to a more pop-rock based market, yet within less than a minute, the metal returns and another sing-along chorus rears it’s head. It’s clear that these chaps are shooting for the stars here, with the latter half of the album switching between heavier tones and ‘fist in the air’ tunes, which we’re sure will unite live audiences wherever the band may go.
Overall, there is little to fault here. Solid production value, high quality musicianship and very good songwriting are all present. The only defining point here is personal taste. It’s a sound that attracts an equal amount of love and hate from the alternative scene, but whatever your previous convictions, we seriously advise you give this a listen before making judgement.
