As I've gotten older, I have become less tolerant for long, overbloated records. I squirm at the idea of an album longer than fifty minutes, especially when it comes from the metalcore scene. And even more so when the album is as blatant a nostalgia grab as This Room Could Be Heaven. by concealer. 

But here's the thing: This Room Could Be Heaven. is concise and straight-to-the-point. "Vanity, a Fractured Promise" starts the album with a bang and the record keeps going for almost the entire time, minus a few atmospheric post-rock passages. Those sections are probably this albums greatest fault, because on a record that runs shorter than half-an-hour, there is no room for meandering. Many of my favourite metalcore and thrash metal albums of the past five years have a no bullshit policy that they follow almost to the letter, and while this record is short and concise, it does not really abide by that policy for long.

That being said, there are some interesting moments here. "Color Slowly Fading" is an early record standout with a nice chorus that could have been borrowed straight out of an old Underoath album. The same can be said for "...And the Sunlight Spoke", which includes one of the few examples of a post-rock bridge actually complimenting the songwriting. On the flipside, the combination of "I" and "II" does not really do it for me. If the band wanted to treat "I" as an interlude, it could have worked, but "II" creates the illusion of being this ruthless hardcore slam, only for that song to subdue into more post-rock nonsense and it becomes a massive letdown.

At the end of This Room Could Be Heaven. I was underwhelmed. I could tell that concealer. have a knack for production and could tell you every miniscule detail about The Opposite of December... A Season of Separation. What pains me is that concealer. do not have that much to say about themselves. 

Best Songs: Vanity, a Fractured Promise, Color Slowly Fading, ...And the Sunlight Spoke

For Fans Of: Skycamefalling, Poison the Well

The "beauty and the beast" vocal technique of female cleans and male growls originated in the 90s from gothic metal releases like the first 3 Theatre of Tragedy albums and Within Temptation's debut Enter. Nowadays, any band with heavy riffs and bombastic symphonics can do that vocal pairing. We already know that style was popularized in symphonic metal by Epica, but what about this Swedish band Eleine? This is their glorious second album Until the End!

The newer bands like Eleine have helped stabilize symphonic metal in the past 10 years before this review. Madeleine Liljestam has a lot of strength and power in her vocals, greatly fitting in with the growls by guitarist Rikard Ekberg.

There's some of that heavier gothic vibe in "Story Untold", getting close to melodeath territory, though the symphonics and singing are what help things out. Cranking up the tempo is "Echoes". Madeleine stands her ground with her vocals, while Ekberg provides the ocassional growls whenever the time is right. "Sanity" punches through with some deathly groove, again balanced out with the symphonics. "From the Grave" continues that sound with a bit of spookiness to remind some of King Diamond (the band).

One of the best tracks to display that vocal pairing is "Whisper My Child", sounding heavy while staying bombastic. The title track is a perfect diverse cauldron of the oriental aspects of Myrath, the symphonics of Xandria, and a bit of the power metal of Heavenly and Iron Fire. The gothic ballad "Please" is all about emotion, not too much drama.

"Another Rite" may seem too pop-ish for heavier metalheads, but when you listen with an open mind, you can the vocal dynamics there. They especially shine in the catchy chorus, thus making another epic highlight. "Hell Moon (We Shall Never Die)" has more of those Therion-infused symphonics. "Prelude: Arise" is a brief break before the final track. "Break Take Live" unleashes heavy aggression including some soloing to top it all off. As much as the vocals are memorable, so is the instrumentation.

Until the End has showcased a heavier gothic-esque side of symphonic metal last heard from Epica. Eleine has strengthened that sound with their talent. Alongside other bands like Seven Spires and Beyond the Black, they shall reign in the new wave of symphonic metal!

Favorites: "Story Untold", "Echoes", "Whisper My Child", "Until the End", "Another Rite", "Break Take Live"

Sydney five-piece Critical Mass were a name that I saw floating around the live scene in my home city during the early 1990's but never had the opportunity of experiencing in the flesh as far as I can recall. I did, however, get the chance to check out this one-off album which would occasionally find its way onto the CD player of whoever's house the after party happened to be at though. Critical Mass had begun life as a cover band called Foreign Order in the late 1980's before changing their moniker & attempting originals but they didn't really amount to much before calling it quits around 1993/94. I was familiar with vocalist Greg Moore through the 1989 "Into Reality" demo tape from Sydney speed/heavy metallers Enticer (3.5/5) which I quite liked but the rest of the band didn't really come from any level of metal pedigree & it shows on their sole full-length.

The "Unholy Wars" album was released through Vampire Records in 1992 which surprises me really. Label owner Danny Kaleda was a well-known member of the local metal community thanks to his long-standing "Monday Night Metal" radio program on 2RRR (a show that I was a guest on at least once) & Vampire would be responsible for putting out high-quality extreme metal records like Sadistik Exekution's "The Magus" & the first couple of Nazxul releases. It seems a little strange to me that he'd associate himself with such a mild-mannered & fairly easy-listening metal release such as this one but that would appear to be the case. The production isn't anything to write home about either with the rhythm guitars being too far back in the mix & being over-powered by the rhythm section. For this reason, "Unholy Wars" sounds a lot like a self-financed affair.

Critical Mass' musical approach sits somewhere between Metallica's more chuggy, mid-paced thrash metal material & a more accessible heavy metal sound built around power chords & vocal hooks. Unfortunately the thrash riffs are so simple & generic that I can't help but feel that the band would have been better served by concentrating on their less intense side as they're certainly a little better at it with power ballad (& clear album highlight in my opinion) "Road That Never Ends" & the catchy heavy metal singalong "Nineties" being two of the more rewarding numbers. The lead guitar work is quite accomplished for such an inconspicuous release though & is definitely one of the better elements of Critical Mass' game although Moore doesn't possess the vocal chops to see the song-writing maximizing its potential. There are no genuine shockers included here but the peaks are rare & I generally find myself feeling a little underwhelmed rather than disappointed.

It's not hard to see why "Unholy Wars" might have drifted past most of the global metal scene without much fanfare because it's sound is simply a little too simple, generic & lightweight to raise too many alarm bells. I can't in good conscience score it any lower than three stars though as it certainly has its moments (such as thrasher "When..." which I quite like). It just feels a little flat & never really sees my heart-rate increasing which means that it was never going to amount to more than a blip on the radar of my metal journey.

For fans of Metallica, Nothing Sacred & Aggressa.

Melodic Death Doom, perfected. The Morning Never Came is the debut album of the Finnish lords of gloom, beauty and despair. While I adore all of Swallow the Sun’s albums, I must confess that their debut is my favorite of all. The band simply crafted the absolute peak of the genre on their first try.

The Morning Never Came is, like most Doom, dark, very melancholic, atmospheric, and somber. But it’s also passionate, lush, melodic, equal parts beautiful and crushing. Undercurrents of depressive hopelessness and apocalypse are lit up by moonbeams of longing and twinkling starlight of love from long ago. Riffs and leads on this album are phenomenal; every single song has multiple that could go down as some of the most iconic of the genre. The bass is amazing, smooth and melodic, which is rare for Doom; the mix does it wonders so you can hear the attention to composition in the basswork. Similarly, the drumming is nice and active, intelligent, swapping between funereal and punchy to serve the songs. The keys are that extra layer that bring this from S tier to SS tier; so beautifully lush, simple but very, very memorable, backing the chords and leads in a way that solidifies each song as extremely memorable. They never compete with the guitar leads, instead adding another layer of backing chords that also avoid competing with rhythm guitar by sticking to higher registers. Just genius compositional work. Last but certainly not least, fantastic vocals that can range from death growls to black shrieks, even some cleans here and there, and morose yet captivating lyricism.

The Morning Never Came is not only one of my favorite albums ever, but one of the most consistent and flawless. There isn’t a single thing about this album I could point out that I don’t love. Even the production and mixing are perfect. The reverb is wonderfully atmospheric but doesn’t sacrifice detail. The layering is just enough to make the album sound lush, but perfectly restrained to ensure every instrument is audible and serving a specific purpose. The craftsmanship here, on all levels, is masterful.

The thing about albums like this is, beyond all the technical aspects, the compositional aspects, the musicianship, the production, it still has one more thing going for it: the emotional value. These songs are deeply affecting, on every front. The melodies are heart-wrenching, the vocals are powerful, the keys provide that plastic synthetic beauty that contrasts so well with the crushing devastation of the rhythm section. The mood here is so damn gloomy. The gloomiest album I’ve ever heard. Every song sounds like finding that which is most important to you broken and buried in the snow. Some songs instill the wrath that follows, and others the grief, but there’s always loss, there’s always melancholy, and there’s always cold, bitter snow, with no sign of the morning in sight.

Well, this just proves how much of a sucker I am for Anders. I’ve also got a soft spot for this style of 2000’s Alternative Metal that fused elements of extreme Metal with commercial sensibility, and always came with heavy doses of angst. I was growing up in that era, so of course it’s nostalgic for me. When I found out a couple members from one of my favorite bands put out an album in this style two decades ago, my interest was piqued.

To be blunt, this is a very standard 2000’s Alt Metal album on the surface. The band takes a ton of influence from the American scene at the time, adding in some Nu Metal influence. The rhythm section is pretty simple, most of the riffs are standard chord-based fair, and the songs follow verse-chorus format. But below that, there are elements of quality and care that make this a very complete package. Subtle but interesting synths are used to create atmosphere or even underlying melodies, and work especially well during the softer sections of the songs. Niclas reminds us he is not just any guitarist, but the riffmaster of the most legendary Melodeath band ever by composing gentle lead guitar melodies (often clean) that instead of taking focus, provide extra layers of depth to the verses and playing off of Ander’s vocals very nicely.

At the end of the day, though, Anders takes the center stage. At this point in his career, he had never used primarily clean vocals on an album, but what a welcome surprise it is. His cleans have always been a point of contention among fans (though I have always adored them) but one thing that cannot be denied is, god damn, the man can write a hook. Fantastic vocal melodies, harmonized with multiple layers (and styles) of vocals, even crafted with lyrics that flow perfectly… the choruses here are monumental. The verses are similarly captivating, less focused on melody and more on using these either angry or melancholic lyrics to build the mood of the song. The instrumentation on this album is simple, but it is to give the man full focus and play off of his strengths, and that is done to perfection here.

A lost gem that should appeal to any fans of that early 2000’s Alt Metal scene or fans of Anders’ vocals.