Insomnium - Above the Weeping World(2006)

Our next band is from Joensuu, East Finland. I believe Finland and Sweden to be the major countries where the best bands spawn, and in Finland, what is also known as the "A Land of Thousand Lakes", we can call it A Land of Thousand Melodeath Bands. Insomnium is a great example of that. Liking Opeth very much, and hearing very pleasing things about this band, like having even more potential, I've decided to give it a go with Above the Weeping World. I'm most pleased, even delighted.

The album starts with "The Gale", mostly a recording taken from nature. We start with a proverb like lyric "When it pours, it rains like hell". I believe if "The Gale" is just the pouring, the whole package is actually the Hell itself. Even the nature recordings are of best quality. After "The Gale", we enter one of the best pieces of melodic death metal, "Mortal Share", whose video can be found here. From the start to the end, "Mortal Share" states that it is a masterpiece. Based on a great melody, good drum tempos and good usage of vocals indicate that we found a song that can be listened always. After "Mortal Share", we find ourselves with more progressive songs, such as "At the Gates of Sleep","The Killjoy".

These progressive songs are really of best quality even for me, who does not really like progressive music. The album is very much like Opeth with even more melodies, no clean vocals. The album ends with "In the Groves of Death" who ends with raining, just like the way "The Gale" started, as to indicate there is an end for every beginning. Having the lyrics of themes of darkness,death,nature and mourning, they seem to be very poetic. All the instruments are powerful, especially the drums and the guitars who seem to create such great melodies.

I have not a single negative opinion on this band, as they seem to have done a wonderful job, where Swedish main Melodeath bands have started to drift from their paths. I really hope Insomnium turns into something even better and I can say "I actually listen progressive, actually one of the progressive out there".

Song List:

1- The Gale

2- Mortal Share

3- Drawn to Black

4- Change of Heart

5- At the Gates of Sleep

6- The Killjoy

7- Last Statement

8- Devoid of Caring

9- In the Groves of Death

Degradead - Out of Body Experience(2009)

As we said in The Armegeddon Anthem review, Sweden has set its future bright as melodic death metal. Along with Zonaria, Degradead is truly a great band, with so many young people playing. I mean, come on, what can people think of you when your debut album was produced with the help of the Jester himself, along with Peter Iwers, and your second album was produced in Studio Abyss. Yes, that famous studio, run by Peter Tagtgren, who, in my opinion, is the god of melodic death. And I'm lucky to review such an album now. 1 year after "Till Death Do Us Apart" the energetic band Degradead returned with a what-we-can-call masterpiece like album.

The sound is not very different from the first album, meaning they are keen to stay on the genre, unlike Zonaria, who has drifted off a bit to black metal. That is good news for the melodeath fans. Sehlin(Mikael)'s vocals remain ever the same aggressive, and his cleans are much better than the debut album, as in "Future is Now". The single "Wake the Storm" having a video much like the infamous Prodigy song, "Smack my Bitch Up", is one of the best songs on the album, a good choice for video as well. Sehlin uses his growls and screams exceptionally on this album, probably got a great amount of help from the master, Tagtgren.

The song styles remain very much the same, like Predator's Portrait of Soilwork, but less keyboard elements and those tone shit. So if you dislike keyboard in a melodeath, but don't mind clean vocals, this album is tops for you. An instrumental song is included as well, under the name of "Transmigration". It starts with a acoustic guitar but ends with some growls with guitar riffs, so the name speaks for the song. But it's not the only song with acoustic guitars. "Illusion" also has some pieces of acoustic guitar usage, which is in fact a great addition to the song. Along those softness, we have shredding "VXR" a blast of energy, with non-stopping tempo, so the band makes sure we listen to every kind that they can offer.

I despise clean vocals myself, but I must say, Degradead, thanks to Tagtgren,has mixed all those elements into a great album, and show that they deserve the title given to them by Jesper Strömblad, aka the Jester, "the future of the melodic death metal". I would suggest to all melodeath listeners to watch and listen of course this group very closely.

Song List:

1- All is Gone

2- Wake the Storm

3- Achieve the Sky

4- Everlasting Hatred

5- Depths of Darkness

6- VXR

7- Future is Now

8- Transmigration

9- The Burning Orchid

10- Almost Dead

11- Dream

12- Illusion

13- Suffering

14- Unfortunate

Zonaria - Infamy and the Breed(2007)

For this one we scope Umea, a town in Sweden, in the eastern side, far from Stockholm, and even further than Göteborg. But I am sure that the sound isn't. As the creator of the genre, Sweden has the right to be proud of every Melodic Death Metal band that spawns every now and then. In Zonaria's case, Sweden has set its future bright. Oldest member being born in 1987, same age as myself here, the band already sounds like their fathers of the genre. Quite an accomplishment for the debut album.

The album starts with "Infamy" a mood-setting piece, with a small riff and a greeting. We face quite the riffs here, with melodies of course, and high tempo drum beats, with accompanied by Simon Berglund, one of the best vocalists I've listened. I hope his fate does not resemble that of Anders Friden, who now does little or no screams and growls at all. While we get familiar with the album, it hits us with its first single, "The Armageddon Anthem" who also has a video here. Other great songs follow this one, especially "Rendered In Vain" and "Image of Myself". The lyrics of course reflect death, and one's self with of course some elements of chaos and destruction. Quite the death metal lyrics as you can imagine. Guitar riffs are ever as delightful, as seen in "The Black Omen". The album finishes with "Everything is Wasteland" another great song, which in fact makes a great ending for the album. Although I have listed pretty much a lot of positive comments here, I must say that the band has created a sound of its own, which is a great plus in originality. Of all these swarming bands in Sweden, most of them just try to be another In Flames, Dark Tranquility or Hypocrisy, but Zonaria really tried to just be Zonaria.

It may have some or little flaws, not that I can see at the moment but I would not hesitate to say that "Infamy and the Breed" is one of the best debut albums I've listened, in fact I can only compare Nebularium of Disarmonia Mundi with it.

Song List

1- Infamy

2- The Last Endeavor

3- Pandemic Assault

4- The Armageddon Anthem

5- Rendered In Vain

6- Image of Myself

7- Evolution Overdose

8- Attending Annihilation

9- Descend Into Chaos

10- Ravage the Breed

11- The Black Omen

12- Everything is Wasteland

Blood Stain Child - Mozaiq(2007)

The first album review of Manu Cornuto Scope, comes from the very far east of the Earth. We are scoping Mozaiq, a 2007 album made by Blood Stain Child, of Osaka. This group can be defined by one of the most eccentric genres out there, Melodic Death Metal with Trance elements, We are sure someone will come up with a "-metal" name for this kind, but for the moment, we'll stick to Melodic Death with Trance elements. The album is comprised of 12 songs, each with a weirder name than other. As we know, Japan is known for weird things in general, weird fashion, weird people and etc. For an average thrash or death metal listener, this metal can be labeled as weird as well. But for those out, who enjoy trance too, this album can just be a fountain of life along with it's predecessor, which will also be reviewed here, Idolator.

Though the names are weird, the music is far better than what we can define as "weird". Starting with "Exotic-6-Cordinator" the band promises us an album full of energy, and fulfills that promise. It is mainly composed of fast tempos, usage of harsh growls and vocals, along with melodic keyboard tones, which are also used sometimes in a sad mood, seen in "Cyber Green". Of course after each of these tones, the album kind of revives and returns to its energetic stance.

While behind the keyboard lies a good practitioner of a melodic keyboard, clean vocals are not good as the growls and screams,the "talks" during the songs are also a pain in the ear. The album also has an instrumental song, "C.E. 0079", I really want to know what this means by the way, although it has some japanese girl speaking in the middle. In general I will label this as a good album but nothing much more, Idolator was better in my opinion.

From the Idolator, we can see a more shifting towards trance Idolator was already a large step towards trance, Mozaiq now brings the elements in a stalemate, so that we can not say this album is metal or it is trance. I'd prefer seeing it as a metal though. A few guitar solos help me out on this one.

Song List:

1- Exotic-6-Cordinator

2- Cyber Green

3- Freedom

4- Energy Blast

5- Pitch Black Room

6- Another Dimension

7- Metropolice

8- C.E. 0079

9- Innocence

10- Peacemaker

11- Neo-Gothic Romance

12- EZ Do Dance(Bonus track for Japan)