Whispered - Thousand Swords |
Published February 20 2010
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Hajimari (Intro) |
| Genre | Powered Death Metal |
Jouni Valjakka
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Vocals
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| Tracks | 9 |
Jouni Valjakka
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Guitar
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| Runningtime | 62 Min. |
Pyrypekka Ruponen
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Guitar
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| Label | Redhouse FMP |
Valtteri Arvaja
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Bass
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| Release | 10 February 2010 |
Toni Pöllänen
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Drums
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| Country | Finland |
Mika Karjalainen
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Keyboard
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| Similar artists | Children Of Bodom, Kalmah, Norther | ||
I was introduced to the little-known Finnish band Whispered by way of their polished demo, Wrath of Heaven. Describing themselves as "Samurai metal" (a genre name as asinine and sophomoric-sounding as "Viking metal" and "ice metal"), I was impressed by their brand of oriental-themed melodic death metal. Whispered practice the now-familiar style of keyboard-driven, Finnish melodic death metal that has been popularized by their fellow countrymen, Children of Bodom.
Though the entire aforementioned demo is included as part of the long-playingThousand Swords, I wasn't sure what to expect with the album. Would the feudal Japan theme be as prevalent on the full-length as it was on the demo? I was skeptical of the sound being able to be maintained for the entire duration of a record, with a playing time of over an hour, no less. The theme ends up being abundant, but restrained enough to not tread quite into the realm of gimmickry.
There are a few sections utilizing actual traditional Asian instruments, but the style is relegated mostly to the leads, solos, and keys being played in eastern scales and modes. However, I can't see the band being able to pull this theme off for an entire follow-up album, though I could be wrong -- fellow melo-deathers Amon Amarth have been able to successfully achieve theirs for every release (though in their case, it is mostly lyrical rather than musical).
Ultimately, Whispered play a well-executed, if typical brand of powered death metal, despite their Samurai motif. There isn't really a lot going on here that you haven't heard before from other bands of the style, though the melodic keyboards and delicious lead-work are admittedly very well pulled off and worth at least a listen for that reason alone. Though the album contains a few longer, epic tracks, the band sounds best when not trying to overcomplicate things by firing on all cylinders with straight-up, aggressive metal tunes. Here's hoping that the band is able to tap their considerable potential and step out of the shadow of their thematic, overly dramatic elements to craft a truly great follow up.
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Performance
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Originality
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Production
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Vocals
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Songwriting
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9 |
8 |
9 |
8 |
7 |
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Summary
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8 chalices of 10 - Dux |
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