Review Summary: A great, long-running band you've likely never heard of make some quality melo-death
The Man-Eating Tree is a Finnish melodic death metal band which originated as an offshoot from
Sentenced, when drummer Vesa Ranta sought to expand his musical horizons. Despite existing for some time, they have by all available evidence failed to make much of a broader impact in the scene with their first three records. In my opinion, it is time for this to change with the release of their fourth effort. '
Night Verses' incorporates plenty of MDM-adjacent sound in their own style, with a little gothic metal influence in places which was vividly reminiscent of fellow Finnish gothic metal band
Entwine. The resulting product reminds me most of contemporary melo-death releases like recent
Dark Tranquillity and
Insomnium records.
This sound is exemplified with the post-intro opener '
Days under the Dark' which in my view demonstrates the absolute zenith of what the band has crafted this time out. It is a sprawling epic which features a number of stylistic switch-ups, from the gentle instrumentation of the verses to the crushing wave like bombardment that accompanies the bridge. Likewise, cleans and growls frequently swap centre stage. The song then swells into the emotional climax which is equal parts triumphant and melancholic, featuring beautiful keys which truly recall the
Entwine likeness.
Next up is '
Seer', which is the designated heavy track, driven by a filthy riff, growled vocals and soaring chorus. A much more simple song than the predecessor but very effective. The next stand-out track is '
All our Shadows' with it's reluctantly hopeful tone, standing apart from the prior tracks in that way. '
To the Sinking' lulls the listener into a lazy ballad-type atmosphere before a crushing, dissonant, sludgy post-metal style breakdown right in the middle splits the song into two halves, the latter of which is filled with a doom-adjacent dirge that slowly plods along with sombre riffs and drums. The point being - there is some variety here rather than a number of paint by numbers song structures with a gothic melo-death template slapped overtop.
The Man-Eating Tree offer a rock-solid interpretation of modern melodic death metal stylings featuring all the expected genre staples in terms instrumentation, lyrical themes and vocals with suitably strong song-writing to keep the whole affair interesting throughout. I was impressed with every aspect of the record from the clean vocals to the instrumentation to the production. This leaves the notable exception of the harsh vocals, which largely stick to a style of growl. I found them to be rather unrefined sounding and very guttural, ultimately lacking comprehensibility and pronunciation too often. I expect others may indeed enjoy them regardless. '
Night Verses' is a good fit for anyone looking for a MDM record that sounds both established and fresh in it's own right.
