DISDAINED - Kill My Only Enemy (CD)

Judging from the band picture this is “yet another band with a beautiful front woman and a bunch of ugly guys”. Well there are a zillion bands with only ugly guys and no one complains about that so I’ll leave it at that. It may be a new band, but parts of the band are no newcomers but have been found in bands like Insania (Stockholm) and Satanic Surfers. Disdained are describes as a “female-fronted doom band”, which I however do not agree with. Female-fronted, yes, but doom? No way! Ok, the riffs are heavy, but the songs are generally many many bpm too fast. I’d say they sound like a heavier relative of Within Temptation, but with their own identity. Singer Therése Thomsson has great vocal capacities and she thankfully avoids the Nightwishian opera style wailing, but adds a few well placed growls instead, and they are few and far between. The musicians are also top notch and I’m happy to say here I can actually hear what the bass-player is playing as well. The song material is well-arranged and balances perfectly between the melodic side and the detuned riffing. The mix, by Peter Norlinder and Dan Norman, is dynamic and ambient and at the same time brick-breakingly heavy. It gets pretty theatrical at times, especially in songs like “Numb”, which I really like. It may not be unique, but the competition here in Sweden is pretty slim. Well worth checking out!

Janne Stark
Label: Rambo
Country: Sweden
Year: 2011
Link: http://www.disdained.se/

ULTIMATE FATE - Beyond The Horizon (MCD)

Ultimate Fate is a new young Swedish female fronted five-piece. When you hear female fronted, you more or less immediately think Within Temptation, Nightwish or Evanescence. Well, at least I do. And, yes, Ultimate Fate do not stray that far away. I hear a lot of Within Temptation in the bands sound and style. Jennie Söderberg is a great singer fitting the style perfectly. The band handles their parts very well, too I must say. The three songs showcase the band quite well and makes me want to hear more. Opener Horizon is an mid-tempo thing with a more up-tempo melodic chorus sounding, lots of variation and actually quite a progressive track. Retribution starts off quite acoustic and almost a bit reminiscent of Blackmore's Night, but soon heading of into a heavier vein and with a tempo-change they enter into a melodic metal landscape. Beyond Fear starts off with a guitar riff sounding a bit like classic US metal band Warlord, but like the other tracks it offers quite a varied plate of food, entering into an almost doomy chord-progression leading into an up-tempo oriental sounding verse. This is really great stuff, I must say! It will be interesting to see what this band can come up with next.
Janne Stark
Label: private
Year: 2011
Country: Sweden
Link: www.ultimatefate.se