 | Tracklist:
1. The Freedom Fall
2. Be you Angel, Be you Beast
3. Claw the Clouds
4. Vengeance Is Hers
5. For Galaxies To Clash
6. The Springrise
7. Scattering the Timeweb
8. 300 Years Old
9. Nihil Juggernaut
10. No God Loves
Release Date: 2005 | |
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| Summary: While not the most creative or original band, Satariel manages to keep Hydra just interesting enough to make it a decent listen. And while not music one would play 24/7, it proves to be enjoyable to listen to occasionally when you sometimes want some Melo |
1 of 1 thought this review was well written
This is my first review, so tell me what I'm doing wrong as I'm not completely sure how to do this.
Satariel is a Melodic Death Metal band that formed in 1993. They originally played brutal Black Metal, then gradually moved to more Melodic sounds. By the 2005 release of Hydra, they had made the full switch to Melodic Death Metal.
The current lineup is:
vocals - pär johansson
drums - robert sundelin
guitars / synth - magnus alakangas
guitars - mikael granquist
bass - mikael granbacke
Guest Musicians:
guitar solo - simon johansson (1,3,5)
vocals - lenny blade (3,9)
organ - max lorentz (7)
choir/vocals - vanja wikström (1,5,8,10)
First off, Satariel is by no means groundbreaking in anything they do. They don't make the most creative or original music, but they're not complete Melo-Death clones, either. While keeping with the standard sound of the genre, they manage to incorporate orchestral keyboards, acoustics, and a few different vocal styles to keep things interesting.
Satariel didn't leave everything behind when they made the change from Black to Melodic Death Metal. The first thing most people will notice is that the vocals are not the typical mid-ranged growls most often used by Alexi Laiho and others in the genre. They're actually Black Metal-style growls (similiar to Immortal on Sons of Northern Darkness), accompanied by folkish clean vocals and sometimes even harsher Metallica-esque singing.
Musicianship is very important to me when I rate a CD. Satariel isn't technical; they usually stay in 4/4 and play at a mid-tempo pace. Their guitarists aren't shred artists either, bu they play well enough and they can write good melodies, even if they are simple. They take the In Flames approach to solos; Instead of insane shredding, they play straight to the point, melodic little solos that fit right into the songs. There isn't a solo in every song on this CD, but the ones that are present are decent, usually following the melody of the song.
The first track, The Freedom Fall, starts off the CD using the formula that will be evident throughout Hydra; Verse-Chorus-Verse-Bridge-Chorus is the layout for most of the songs on this CD. As with most of the other 9 tracks, The Freedom Fall has Pär Johansson shrieking his way through the verses, then calmly singing throught the chorus. A solo comes in after awhile, which leads back into the chorus and the song ends on a powerchord that slowly fades away. Be You Angel, Be You Beast then comes in and we hear generally the same thing as the first track. Claw The Clouds starts off with a simple guitar riff that plays through the verses. It's easy to listen to, and incorporates the Metallica style vocals I talked about earlier, as sung by Lenny Blade. I get the feeling if Satariel had released a single, this would be it.
So far, there hasn't been much variation throughout the CD, so Vengeance Is Hers comes as a relief to people that were bored by the first 3 tracks. This song comes in at a mid-tempo pace, as did the first 3, but right off the bat Vengeance Is Hers introduces a new element to the music; acoustic guitar. Acoustic guitar will be incorporated a decent amount into a few more tracks on this CD, usually hidden under a layer of heavy electric guitar and drums. It gives a strange feel to the album; heavy and ruthless but forgiving and calm at the same time. Midway through the first verse we hear another new idea-low gutteral growls, more typical of Death Metal. These bridge to the chorus, where the double bass picks up and the keyboard in the background gives the song a more epic feel.
For Galaxies To Clash comes up next, immediatly showing it will be the heaviest song yet. Within the first few seconds we hear a reoccurence of the Death Metal growls that appeared in the last song, as Pär lets out a moster roar thats lasts a few seconds until the verse comes in. The rest of the song is the same-old same-old sound that's heard far too much on this CD. The Springrise comes on now, with an ambient keyboard line leading into a melodic guitar riff. Pär makes use of his nice Death growls in this song too, but the song quickly falls into the generic sound the rest of the songs share. The solo isn't a redeeming factor as there isn't one, and the song drags along with nothing particularly memorable about it.
Scattering The Timeweb starts off with an eerie clean guitar line, then after half a minute the song slams into steady drumming and power chords. The clean guitar line still lurks in the background, and the keyboard gives the song an epic overtone that makes this one of the more memorable songs Hydra. A little before halfway through the song, a layer of acoustic guitars are added to the mix, giving the song an increasingly gloomy undertone while never subtracting from the heaviness of the electric instruments.
300 Years Old is probably the most unique song on the album, starting with a generic riff, then flowing into a cleanly sung verse. Shortly after the verse ends, a choir emerges in the mix, making this track more interesting to listen to. The music pretty much stays the same throught the song, with a few changes in tempo. Another unique trait of this song is that it's all cleanly sung, with the exception of a growl at about 1:55. This is the only track on the album that is void of growls and shrieks.
Now the last two songs on Hydra come up, and we're into the home stretch. Nihil Juggernaut comes in with a crushing guitar riff and solid drumming, and after a small variation of the riff the song heads into the verse. The drumming picks up, and this verse probably makes for the heaviest moment on the album. The songs tempo drops and gos into the cleanly sung chorus. After another verse, the music slows down drastically and the song enters the bridge. Another extremely heavy moment on the album, Satariel bombards us with pinch harmonics and pounding guitar and drums. The song fades out, and gets the title of the heaviest song on the album. Contrasting the last song, No God Loves starts off with a Rock style riff that I would expect to hear coming out of a band who gets heavy radio play, and not Satariel. This song is probably the softest, keeping a slower tempo through most of the song. A Choir pops up again in this song, giving it a mellow feel. Midway through it lapses briefly into a soft solo type passage, then comes back to a heavier passage with the only screaming in the song. It fades out, and then the CD is over.
So, while not the most creative or original band in their genre, Satariel manages to keep their music just interesting enough to not be labeled as a blatant Melo-Death clone band. They are not amazing musicians by any means, and they suffer badly from using the same forumula over and over; but all in all Hydra is a decent album that proves a good listen now and then when you want some Melodic Death Metal.
Standout Tracks:
Claw The Clouds
Vengeance Is Hers
Scattering The Timeweb
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