Review Summary: Until their swan song nearly ten years later, Sentenced would continue to put out music attempting to emulate this influential album.
Down, the forth full length album put out by the pioneering Finnish metal outfit, sees them incorporating new elements and building on everything they had accomplished with their previous album Amok. The album marks the severance of nearly all ties to their earlier death metal roots and instead sees them lean towards something more akin to gothic metal, with great results one might add.
Only months before recording this album, Sentenced had found their replacement to departed vocalist Taneli Jarva with Ville Laihiala. His addition brought a shot of energy and vitality to their music as, although his vocals lack perhaps the variety and dimension of his predecessor, nonetheless Laihiala sounded much more secure and confident in what he could accomplish through his voice. His vocals carry a genuine air of melancholy, as he delivers verse after verse of anguish on this release. The musical compositions dance between slow and mournful numbers to quick brilliantly executed rock tunes. The instrumentation, contrary to the lyrical theme of the album is actually quite polished and pretty. Thanks to the production of Waldemar Sorychta, who also lent his keyboarding talents to several songs on the record. The riffs provided by Miika Tenkula and Sami Lopakka are raucous, the bass keeps everything in line and the drums add either mid-paced grove or head-banging rhythm when called for. Speaking of the aforementioned lyrical theme, most familiar with Sentenced's discography will note that their lyrics deal mostly with despair, depression and suicide. Whereas metal lyrics often include these and other grim topics, the clarity and sharpness by which Laihiala sings them, makes them that much more palpable because one can understand exactly what he is saying without having to have an ear for metal vocals.
Songs like, "Noose", "Shadegrown", and "Keep My Grave Open" are all metal classics that ooze this heavy-hearted gloom found throughout the album as the dynamic arrangements lend themselves perfectly to the dark lyrical imagery. With the inclusion of several female sung refrains and backing death metal growls by Vorph of Samael fame, Sentenced manage to vary the vocals up from time to time. Another plus that this album carries on from its predecessor is the approachability and catchiness of the songs. Short in length and with one of the better choruses Sentenced had written, "Sun Won't Shine", showcases these attributes perfectly while also boasting tremendous replay value. One flaw that may be noted is that the disc does appear to be top heavy as the numbers seem to lose steam about midway through the album. Also of course, there are always those who will balk when a band changes styles, regardless of if the outcome is positive. Altogether though, Down's weakness don't keep this from being a fine example of what these Finn's are capable of.
With Amok, Sentenced reached heights that from their humble death metal beginnings few would have believed; and as if realizing that perhaps that album was the accumulation of what they could achieve playing their take of melodically accessible death metal, they only grew stronger by forgoing that style and releasing what many consider the definite Sentenced record.
