Immortal Souls - Ice Upon The Night
Fear Dark Records FD010 October 2003
By Russell Garwood
Immortal Souls hail from Finland, and traverse numerous themes, all heavily inspired by their homelands icy climate. This winter metal is, in fact, solo-heavy, melodic death metal, with occasional black touches. The band consists of vocalist/guitarists E. Särkioja and Pete Loisa, A. Särkioja on bass, and Jupe Hakola on drums. The music is well performed; aggressive yet melodic leads are supported by harsher rhythm guitars, and the growls are higher pitched than is the normal for death. The bass is not hugely prominent, but serves its purpose, while the drums are proficient, if nothing new. Clean vocals contributed by guest musician Kimmo Pulkkinen add a differt feel to some of the songs, under which acoustics are used to good effect.
Ice Upon The Night is a good album; my greatest criticism would be the relative unoriginality of the music. The band are clearly competent musicians, and their songwriting is also of a high standard, yet this only makes them an accomplished melodic death group. I look forward to hearing future work and development, as Immortal Souls have the talent to do something new and original. Despite my reservations, melodic death fans are likely to enjoy the groups efforts
Fear Dark Records FD010 October 2003
By Russell Garwood
Immortal Souls hail from Finland, and traverse numerous themes, all heavily inspired by their homelands icy climate. This winter metal is, in fact, solo-heavy, melodic death metal, with occasional black touches. The band consists of vocalist/guitarists E. Särkioja and Pete Loisa, A. Särkioja on bass, and Jupe Hakola on drums. The music is well performed; aggressive yet melodic leads are supported by harsher rhythm guitars, and the growls are higher pitched than is the normal for death. The bass is not hugely prominent, but serves its purpose, while the drums are proficient, if nothing new. Clean vocals contributed by guest musician Kimmo Pulkkinen add a differt feel to some of the songs, under which acoustics are used to good effect.
Ice Upon The Night is a good album; my greatest criticism would be the relative unoriginality of the music. The band are clearly competent musicians, and their songwriting is also of a high standard, yet this only makes them an accomplished melodic death group. I look forward to hearing future work and development, as Immortal Souls have the talent to do something new and original. Despite my reservations, melodic death fans are likely to enjoy the groups efforts
