On your first listen of this release, you'll wonder if Children Of Bodom at one point ditched Laiho and brought in a similar sounding vocalist, and changed their name for whatever reason you can think of, and you'll be wrong. The guitar riffs, the keyboard solos, even the lyrical content and vocals sound exactly like Children Of Bodom! While this isn't a good thing, it also is not a bad thing. One could look at this release as something to whet your appetite between releases.

Many of the songs do show that the band members have some real talent. "Memories To Dust" is perhaps one of the best, having some great guitar work and an excellent solo, followed by an impressive keyboard solo, and "Shadowsouls" is a rather impressive fast paced song with some clean female vocals thrown into the mix, which helps Imperanon shift a little away from Children Of Bodom, but only vocally. The band also does this on the track "Hollow Man" with the actual vocalist of the band instead. Out of all the songs, "Rhythm Of Pain" is perhaps the most different musically, as some of the music on it also has a melodic death feel to it in the vein of In Flames.

All in all, the release is decent. If Imperanon had a new, original take on the style of their obvious influences, then perhaps this would be a different story. Yes, some of the songs are catchy, and this is a good appetizer, but it really isn't worth too much of your hard earned money.

written by Jason Thomas Weiss

Playing time: 38:24