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Once in a while, you come across an excellent gothic rock/metal album- be sure that is one of them! If you haven’t heard of Poisonblack so far, let me give you short introduction:
Ex-Sentenced vocalist Ville Laihiala formed the band in 2002 and the then trio released its first album in 2003. Unlike Sentenced, Ville as the main songwriter focussed on a rather gothic influenced type of music with very personal lyrics dealing mainly with sex and passion.
As we all know Sentenced buried themselves last autumn so that Poisonblack is granted Ville’s full attention now. The band underwent a few line-up changes, which most significantly resulted in Ville taking over the microphone. As he has probably one of the most recognizable voices in the metal scene, you might find yourself strongly reminded of good old Sentenced times. In fact, when I listened to the album for the first time I was disappointed because “Lust Stained Despair” seemed just like a continuation of the suicide killers. Where did the intense and sexy gothic metal from “Escapexstacy” go?
Well, luckily the first impression doesn’t always stay. Once you dive under the surface of this album, you will see that Poisonblack have their own style. Yes, Sentenced is still present, especially in songs like “Nail”, which in terms of atmosphere has a strong resemblance with Sentenced’s “The Rain Comes Falling Down”, but overall Poisonblack incorporate more rock elements into their music. Compared to their first release, they have gotten a heavier and darker impact. Most of the gothic elements have disappeared, yet those songs that are dominated by the keyboard kept this certain gothic touch, and they manage to captivate the listener entirely. Best examples for this are “The Darkest Lie” (in my opinion the best song of the album), “The Nail” and “Soul In Flames”. But the total surprise is “Pain Becomes Me”, a breath-taking instrumental. If you don’t get goose pimples from this song, then I don’t know from which other song you can get them!
Even though this album isn’t a masterpiece per se it is still going to be my favourite record of the year.
| Tracklist |
| 1. Nothing Else Remains |
| 2. Hollow Be My Name |
| 3. The Darkest Lie |
| 4. Rush |
| 5. Nail |
| 6. Raivotar |
| 7. Soul In Flames |
| 8. Pain Becomes Me |
| 9. Never Enough |
| 10. Love Controlled Despair |
| 11. The Living Dead |
: 48.17
| Buy other Poisonblack albums |
