 | Tracklist:
1 Intro
2 Symbols and Processes
3 Blinding White
4 Havoc
5 Autumn of Memories
6 Through Your Devil Nature
7 My Labyrinth
8 Asymmetry
9 Tomorrow of Today
Release Date: 01/11/2011 | |
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On 2 Lists
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| Summary: Dedicated to Universum fans everywhere |
Universum fans read: this is how modern melodic death metal, with clean vocals, is done. Riffs are crunchy and potent-sounding, and the growls of the vocalist involved, in this case by Vitali, are beefy and grizzly, the accompanying cleans being complimentary and harmonic in their roles within the music. Fake, tacked-on choruses and abundant amounts of cheese are notably absent as well. For the lactose intolerant metalhead in you or I, Ceremonial Perfection give us something worth digesting and diving into, and all before the stellar, new Dan Swano-produced Ominium Gatherum album drops in February, too.
Estonia’s Ceremonial Perfection offer Alone in the End, not being a revitalizing flare to the swaying and downtrodden melodic death metal genre, per se, but the album does carry that fleeting feeling of hope for this brand of music. It’s the kind of feeling that filled much of 2006’s Above the Weeping World, 2009’s Stone’s Reach and the 90s gem, Sacrilege’s Fifth Season, as well: this music can still sound fresh, alive, maybe not to its full potential here on Alone in the End. But the signs are there for something awesome to come from the band in the future.
Keyboards are used sparingly throughout on Alone in the End, adding a dab of ambiance here and there, such as on concert anthem “Through Your Devil Nature”, or to accompany a leading guitar riff as on “Autumn of Memories” and “Asymmetry”. As mentioned earlier Ceremonial Perfection never create music that comes across as cheesy or ear-grating. There are a few elements in the music where these boys from Estonia could have stepped it up a notch, though; a few acoustic interludes are nice, via “Intro” and “Through Your Devil Nature”, but more would have been welcome, as each track could have easily been as strong and head-bangable as the varied contrasting epic highlight, “My Labyrinth”.
What Alone in the End offers metalheads is surely something you’ve heard before, yet rarely these days is melodic death metal ever done this well, despite the album's shortcomings. Ceremonial Perfection carry a lot of potential for themselves, having much of the subgenre's problems already taken care of at this point in their career – unlike a certain band from Australia, mind you. And it’s fair to say that with a strong follow-up the band could easily place themselves in the upper tiers of the subgenre. Enjoyable and well-played, Alone in the End offer metalheads a glimpse of hope for everybody’s most hated/most loved brand of metal, melodic death in all it infamous glory.
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| Recent reviews by this author | | | |
Sounds good, I'm always searching for new melodeath. Checking this out now.
Digging: Walknut - Graveforests And Their Shadows Digging: Walknut - Graveforests And Their Shadows
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Summary made me lol. Great review Jared, will definitely be checking this out.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Summary made me lol [2]
Damn, I thought I was pretty well-informed on my local metal scene but I've never even heard about these guys. Gonna look into this for sure.
Digging: Rosetta - The Galilean Satellites Digging: Rosetta - The Galilean Satellites | | |
As soon as I read that they were Estonian I assumed you would have heard of them Styles haha
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
You know I would have assumed that too since I know of many metal bands around here, both good and bad. Haven't heard about these guys playing live anywhere either which is kinda weird.
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Not into melodeath myself, but great review Jared; pos.
Digging: My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
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thanks for the comments guys, and real sorry to hear about your ban kyle
Digging: Andrew Bird - Break It Yourself Digging: Andrew Bird - Break It Yourself
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Yeah I don't think I did anything ban worthy but nothing I can do about that now.
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Great review Jared, this sounds interesting. Have a pos
| | | Album Rating: 3
Completely agree with the universum contrast, album is pretty good for what it is and pos/
Digging: The 11th Hour - Lacrima Mortis | | |
what's the point at taking a shot at universum and the fans? just my 2 cents. nice review though. pretty good album too.
Digging: Ne Obliviscaris - Portal of I Digging: Ne Obliviscaris - Portal of I
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Of all the In Flames lyrics to turn into a band name, Ceremonial Perfection?
Digging: Corrupted - Garten Der Unbewusstheit
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what's the point at taking a shot at universum and the fans
they took shots at me, so i figured i'd return the favor
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'they took shots at me, so i figured i'd return the favor'
they're just opinions. i don't really see the point in bringing it into another bands review. seems a bit in bad taste. but hey, its your review, im just venting lol.
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no, it wasn't just their opinions about the album that they voiced lol, trying to contact me angrily in real life is a bit too far and in bad taste haha
anyway, i used the band as a contrast view, point of referenc for this album's sound, wasn't particularily trying to be mean or malicious
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art+melodeath tag means i'll stay away from this. good review
Digging: Love American - Disquiet Digging: Love American - Disquiet
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well i guess trying to contact you angrily is a bit over the top. who would've thought people would take the internet seriously? haha.
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digging this alot, not sure what to rate it though, its way more than a 3.5 but never a 4
Digging: Of Monsters and Men - My Head is an Animal Digging: Of Monsters and Men - My Head is an Animal
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This is boring sounding, and the drums are so fucking triggered sounding, I can't stand it.
In other news, Sputnik has added a related search feature to the search at the top right of the screen. Cool.
Digging: Jaga Jazzist - A Livingroom Hush
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Vox sorta bug me but I like the rest of the band. Drums could sound a lot better but I think the playing itself is awesome.
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