Review Summary: A solid Melodic Death album, the six members of Raintime assault the senses with blistering guitar / drum tracks that are both thrashy and melodic when necessary, and a vocal range that is superb, though the album does lose some of its steam as it progres
I don’t know how I discovered Raintime and their sophomore album “Flies and Lies.” Perhaps I was drunk when I got their album, or perhaps Jesus Christ descended from Heaven, hacked into my computer, and installed their album onto my hard drive and sent a message in my dreams to listen to it. I don’t know where I first heard of the band, but after listening to this album, I am almost certain that there must have been some divine inspiration.
The album starts with a quick keyboard intro, segueing into frantic-paced drums, heavy guitars, and culminating with a spectacular death growl, setting the tone for the entire album. This first track is Flies and Lies, and it is probably the strongest, best song on the album, and two minutes into the song you will understand why I feel so strongly about this album. With heavy verses, choruses, a fine range of clean and death vocals; a blistering bridge; and well done solos, the band proves they are here, and they mean business.
Sadly, the album’s quality deteriorates slightly as the album progresses, and this is one of its faults. “Flies and Lies” the album is primarily keyboard driven, I discovered. Yes, the guitars are present and audible, but in most of the songs the guitars share the auditory stage with the keyboards, and in some cases the keyboards overtake the guitar. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but having been used to guitar driven melodic death of “Whoracle” era In Flames and At the Gates, it’s a change I wasn’t expecting. “Rolling Chances” demonstrates this as the keyboard melodies often overtake the simple metal riffs throughout the song.
“Apeiron” is a weird song. Most people who have also reviewed this album consider it the worst song on the album, most likely because of the oddly-placed metalcore-ish vocal styling. It sounds as if some other vocalist recorded the death vocals. Maybe the band recorded Apeiron last, and the lead singer’s voice was getting tired. I don’t know, but the perfect clean vocals make up for the death vocals. The guitar stands out a little more in this song, as well. I’m not going to say this song is the worst on the album, because I don’t think it is. Besides the odd vocals, the song great, and the vocals themselves aren’t bad, just not up to the standards of the rest of the album. “Rainbringer” brings the normal death vocals back to the fold, as well as the keyboards.
I believe “Finally Me” is the weakest song on the album. A melodic ballad, I find it doesn’t suit the otherwise heavier and faster paced music prevalent on the rest of the album. It’s still a good song, making good use of keyboards and power chords, just not what I was looking for in a song. The track is also devoid of death vocals, which by itself doesn’t make it a bad song, either. Some people might like the pleasant change of pace, and coupled with the following song “Tears of Sorrow”, it might fit, but I don’t think the song was a necessary part of the album. Hell, if “Finally Me” didn’t exist, maybe “Tears of Sorrow” would have become “Tears of Adolf Hitler as I Beat Him With a Tire Iron.” One can only speculate.
It is at this moment I realized that the album had yet to return to the frantic pace of “Flies and Lies.” “Rolling Chances” came close, but I told myself that perhaps the drummer had run out of stamina and couldn’t bring himself to make another fast-paced drum beat for the following tracks. We don’t get another fantastic track until “Another Transition.” The band did cover Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”, but if you’ve heard the original song before, you aren’t really missing much. If you’re in a metal band and are going to cover a Michael Jackson song, “Beat It” is probably your only choice, and the band does it well enough.
“Another Transition” is good just because of its chorus. That’s all I’ll say about that.
The band manages to end the album very well. “Burning Doll” is an eerie instrumental that’s primarily keyboards, and it makes a smooth transition into the final track. They could have tracked the minute-ten song to “Matrioska” and accomplished the same effect, but for whatever reason, they didn’t, and it doesn’t take away from the rest of the album. “Matrioska” is a fine song, making good use of clean and death vocals, but the best part is the last 2 minutes of the song. The keyboard / guitar melodies, coupled with the singing to remind the listener of the title track’s keyboard interlude is a great effect, and the soft keyboard outro is fantastic as well.
If you’re a fan of melodic death metal, you would be wise to purchase this album, as it is a solid release, and a fine example of melodeath done correctly. Though the keyboards can completely dominate the guitars at some points, this is still a great album for any metal head. Stop reading this and listen to it as soon as you can. That is all. Good night, Cleveland.
