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Compos Mentis > Fragments of a Withered Dream > Reviews
Compos Mentis - Fragments of a Withered Dream

Not quite there yet... - 60%

MHITO, July 6th, 2003

Heavy Metal ala Maiden, Black Metal ala Cradle of Filth, Doom ala Anathema, Death ala In Flames a Hysterical Black Metal vocalist, this SHOULD appeal to me! But it doesn’t. Why? Well for starters it has nothing to do with the musicians because they are all proficient at playing their respective instruments. It doesn’t have anything to do with the production either because it’s damn near perfect.

What is bothering me is the utter lack of originality in the seven songs on the album. The list of bands and songs that I’m reminded of is sheer endless. Not that originality is the most important thing in music but when it gets this bad it starts to annoy me.
The only thing that absolves these guys is that there are a lot of bands out there with even less talent and craftsmanship. Another thing is the fact that they are (or seem to be) good musicians that perhaps in time will develop their own sound and style. There are always going to be bands that come a bit too late to take a ride on the bandwagon and I’m afraid Compos Mentis is one of them. Let’s hope they find their own thing so we can look back and consider this a Demo of inferior quality to the next album.

(This review was originally written for http://www.lordsofmetal.nl and is republished with kind permission of the webmaster)