Artrosis - Melange
Metal Mind Productions - MMPCD0192 - 2002
By Paddy Walsh
Ho hum. Another day, another Euro 'gothic dark-wave' band. Who the fuck buys this stuff? And how do they manage to get signed?? Anyways, Melange is rather incredibly Artrosis' sixth album, and I had never even heard of them. Hailing from Poland, Artrosis are one of those bands with the Nine Inch Nails-ish synth beats coupled with 'metal' riffs and female vocals. You know the score, and that most of this stuff ends up sounding like it should reside in a thesaurus under 'mediocre'. Melange unfortunately is no different.
The thing with Artrosis is that while they are not incredibly bad, by any means, there is absolutely nothing about them that even goes beyond screaming 'average' at me. The programmed drums are particularly uninspired, sounding more like a metronome put there to help the guitarist keep time than actually contributing as an instrument. The press blurb for Melange claims that the band mixes 'gothic rock with progressive'. I assume the goth quotient is fulfilled by the 'moody' female vocals and cheap sounding keyboards, but the supposed 'progressive' elements are nowhere to be found. The guitars, boasting a dry, thin sound, do fuck all for the most part, rarely breaking out of standard sub-doom riffs. Those times that they do by throwing in an ill advised solo end up sounding like Ministry without the aggression. Blech. The vocals on this are another sore point, sounding like The Gatherings' sans the finesse. Artrosis' Medeah is by no means terrible, but she is nothing at all special, and the vocalists from bands such as The Gathering and Lacuna Coil put her to shame.
With no real stand out songs to speak of (apart from the hilarious keyboard outro), Melange ends up being a fairly humdrum goth-rock album. Lacking aggression, atmosphere and general excitement, avoid this unless you're a Sisters of Mercy masochist. In which case you should probably seek help as well.
3.5/10
Artrosis' Official Website
Metal Mind Productions' Official Website
Metal Mind Productions - MMPCD0192 - 2002
By Paddy Walsh
Ho hum. Another day, another Euro 'gothic dark-wave' band. Who the fuck buys this stuff? And how do they manage to get signed?? Anyways, Melange is rather incredibly Artrosis' sixth album, and I had never even heard of them. Hailing from Poland, Artrosis are one of those bands with the Nine Inch Nails-ish synth beats coupled with 'metal' riffs and female vocals. You know the score, and that most of this stuff ends up sounding like it should reside in a thesaurus under 'mediocre'. Melange unfortunately is no different.
The thing with Artrosis is that while they are not incredibly bad, by any means, there is absolutely nothing about them that even goes beyond screaming 'average' at me. The programmed drums are particularly uninspired, sounding more like a metronome put there to help the guitarist keep time than actually contributing as an instrument. The press blurb for Melange claims that the band mixes 'gothic rock with progressive'. I assume the goth quotient is fulfilled by the 'moody' female vocals and cheap sounding keyboards, but the supposed 'progressive' elements are nowhere to be found. The guitars, boasting a dry, thin sound, do fuck all for the most part, rarely breaking out of standard sub-doom riffs. Those times that they do by throwing in an ill advised solo end up sounding like Ministry without the aggression. Blech. The vocals on this are another sore point, sounding like The Gatherings' sans the finesse. Artrosis' Medeah is by no means terrible, but she is nothing at all special, and the vocalists from bands such as The Gathering and Lacuna Coil put her to shame.
With no real stand out songs to speak of (apart from the hilarious keyboard outro), Melange ends up being a fairly humdrum goth-rock album. Lacking aggression, atmosphere and general excitement, avoid this unless you're a Sisters of Mercy masochist. In which case you should probably seek help as well.
3.5/10
Artrosis' Official Website
Metal Mind Productions' Official Website
