hey everyone check them out...they are amazing.
the following review was taken from sonicdeath.co.uk
Review One:
Following the death of At The Gates and the rise of In Flames and Dark Tranquillity, the Gothenburg scene not only became very incestuous but very. . . . formulaic? I'm sure there are bands out there to prove me wrong, but on what I've heard, a lot of the Swedish scene is still digging out the old Death and Iron Maiden records. . .
Gardenian (The band of one Niklas Engelin, short term member of In Flames) is definitely another of those melodic death bands, but if you took half of In Flames' melodic power away and replaced it with riffing reminiscent of Nevermore there is no doubt that this album would be your end product. This is particularly evident on the title track with some hard-edged, heavy guitar work.
This album has it's fair share of good songs, mainly the ones that utilise the clean vocals for a different, more emotional effect, such as "Long Snap to Zero" or "Sonic Death Monkey" (Yes, where I got the site name from). In the main the riffs are what carry the songs because of their quality, and the rhythm department does quite a good job of backing this up. The lead guitars are disappointing, there's a few small parts that could qualify for Solo but really they aren't melodic and add nothing to the song as a whole.
It's a worthy effort, not amazing, but solid and well executed. If Nevermore and the NWOSDM are your bag it will be worthwhile checking this one out.
David Griffiths - 2001
the following review was taken from sonicdeath.co.uk
Review One:
Following the death of At The Gates and the rise of In Flames and Dark Tranquillity, the Gothenburg scene not only became very incestuous but very. . . . formulaic? I'm sure there are bands out there to prove me wrong, but on what I've heard, a lot of the Swedish scene is still digging out the old Death and Iron Maiden records. . .
Gardenian (The band of one Niklas Engelin, short term member of In Flames) is definitely another of those melodic death bands, but if you took half of In Flames' melodic power away and replaced it with riffing reminiscent of Nevermore there is no doubt that this album would be your end product. This is particularly evident on the title track with some hard-edged, heavy guitar work.
This album has it's fair share of good songs, mainly the ones that utilise the clean vocals for a different, more emotional effect, such as "Long Snap to Zero" or "Sonic Death Monkey" (Yes, where I got the site name from). In the main the riffs are what carry the songs because of their quality, and the rhythm department does quite a good job of backing this up. The lead guitars are disappointing, there's a few small parts that could qualify for Solo but really they aren't melodic and add nothing to the song as a whole.
It's a worthy effort, not amazing, but solid and well executed. If Nevermore and the NWOSDM are your bag it will be worthwhile checking this one out.
David Griffiths - 2001
