Nuclear Blast Allstars - Out of the Dark
Nuclear Blast Records - NB 1800-2 - September 21st, 2007
By Jack Deming
I'm curious. Has any worthwhile person actually spent money this album? Excluding the typical sad souls who see the names of people like Peter Tägtgren and Jari Mäenpää and immediately ask where to blindly throw their money, did anyone expect this to be anything more than mediocre? When was the last time a label threw it's biggest stars at a project and produced something of worth?
It is of course admirable to try and do something slightly different with a compilation like this (although not so different than Roadrunner's Roadrunner United album), but honestly, Out of the Dark in a word? Uninspired. For most of the guest musicians involved in this I'm sure tracking their part was of little real importance to them, just another commitment to fulfill for the label, and it shows. The music was written for NB's 20th Anniversary by Peter Wichers, former guitarist of the band Soilwork, a band which I never found very interesting on any level, so that's out in the open. Aside from the promo being divided up into just under one hundred tracks (something that really just puts me in a ripe mood to write a favorable review), the album also doesn't really flow together in the way I'd like, sounding very random from song to song.
Anders Friden's tune, 'Dysfunctional Hours', has a distinctly Linkin Park-ish vibe, and the chorus sounds exactly like another that I've heard before, but I can't place my finger on it. Jari Mäenpää gives a very good vocal performance on the song 'Devotion', but the music itself is kind of bland and does not feature any of the trademark melodic hooks or sheer technical brilliance that makes his music so enjoyable. I really can't be bothered probing my mind to describe the rest of the album, because there isn't much of significance left to say. I'm sure the performers featured on Out of the Dark will definitely appeal to many listeners, but not much more than as a passing fancy. Nuclear Blast, do us a favor and just let your 'All Stars' concentrate on their own projects.
Official Nuclear Blast Records Website
Nuclear Blast Records - NB 1800-2 - September 21st, 2007
By Jack Deming
I'm curious. Has any worthwhile person actually spent money this album? Excluding the typical sad souls who see the names of people like Peter Tägtgren and Jari Mäenpää and immediately ask where to blindly throw their money, did anyone expect this to be anything more than mediocre? When was the last time a label threw it's biggest stars at a project and produced something of worth?
It is of course admirable to try and do something slightly different with a compilation like this (although not so different than Roadrunner's Roadrunner United album), but honestly, Out of the Dark in a word? Uninspired. For most of the guest musicians involved in this I'm sure tracking their part was of little real importance to them, just another commitment to fulfill for the label, and it shows. The music was written for NB's 20th Anniversary by Peter Wichers, former guitarist of the band Soilwork, a band which I never found very interesting on any level, so that's out in the open. Aside from the promo being divided up into just under one hundred tracks (something that really just puts me in a ripe mood to write a favorable review), the album also doesn't really flow together in the way I'd like, sounding very random from song to song.
Anders Friden's tune, 'Dysfunctional Hours', has a distinctly Linkin Park-ish vibe, and the chorus sounds exactly like another that I've heard before, but I can't place my finger on it. Jari Mäenpää gives a very good vocal performance on the song 'Devotion', but the music itself is kind of bland and does not feature any of the trademark melodic hooks or sheer technical brilliance that makes his music so enjoyable. I really can't be bothered probing my mind to describe the rest of the album, because there isn't much of significance left to say. I'm sure the performers featured on Out of the Dark will definitely appeal to many listeners, but not much more than as a passing fancy. Nuclear Blast, do us a favor and just let your 'All Stars' concentrate on their own projects.
Official Nuclear Blast Records Website
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