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Requiem, originally a melodic death metal band, was founded in 1999 and after two demos they released their debut album "The Arrival" in 2002 which already showed the potential of this very young band. Coming from Finland you almost have to expect something great since this country is the cradle of many high-quality European metal bands. Their new album mixed by Nino Laurenne (Thunderstone) and mastered by Mika Jussila at the famous Finnvox Studios, is even able to exceed the level of magnificence from their debut. Here we have 6 musicians that know how to play a great mix of melodic, symphonic and progressive metal. One of the strong elements of this band is probably the melodic guitar work which already can be heard in the opening track "Blinded". Accompanied by fast drums and awesome keyboard parts played by Henrik Klingenberg (Sonata Arctica) throughout the album, "Mask Of Damnation" already seems to be one of the strongest in this genre this year. Remarkable is also Jouni Nikula's outstanding vocal range which is a unique trademark of Requiem. Recommendable tracks would be the title track "Mask Of Damnation" and "Divine Illusion" containing a fast guitar/keyboard duel, whereas "Dagger" seems to be the weak point of this album perhaps just because it is slower than the others and something special is missing. Sometimes you can realize a few parallels to bands like Symphony X or Freedom Call but apart from that they have created their own style and one thing for sure: "Mask Of Damnation" is everything but boring and Requiem is on the best way to become one of the big Finnish metal bands. Don't hesitate to listen to this album!
| Tracklist |
| 1. Blinded |
| 2. The Dying Ember |
| 3. Mask Of Damnation |
| 4. Divine Illusion |
| 5. Ethereal Journey |
| 6. Shrine Of The Ocean |
| 7. Dagger |
| 8. The Rival's Spell |
| 9. The Accordance (Japan only) |
: 42.00
| Buy other Requiem albums |
