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Cemetary > Sundown > Reviews
Cemetary - Sundown

Non-romantic goth metal - 62%

gasmask_colostomy, December 10th, 2017

Cemetary are one of those unusual (yet surprisingly common) bands who formed in the early ‘90s, put out some very respectable death metal releases that had a hint of Paradise Lost’s doom in the recipe, then proceeded to deconstruct all their metal pieces over the next five years, eventually becoming a gothic metal band by the point of Sundown, which saw light in 1996, not long before the first break-up of the Swedes. For those familiar with what Paradise Lost did around the same time and what Tiamat were also in the process of beginning, Sundown might sound slightly familiar, since this is also mid- to slow-paced melodic metal with deep voiced vocals moodily declaring gloom to be a new religion across the land, while synths occasionally voice their agreement.

Since I’m quite a fan of mid-period Sentenced (after the death metal but before the shitty rock albums), I’m pleased to hear that Mathias Lodmalm was able to pull off a voice not far from Ville Laihiala, as well as some twinkling guitar parts that would have pleased the Finnish masters. In fact, the vocals display an odd tendency to deviate from the typical goth metal type – in the vein of Sentenced and an asthmatic (i.e. less romantic) Ville Valo of HIM – and head into the same territory as Kirk Windstein can be heard layering over Crowbar’s fat sludge metal, which gives a few songs like the title track an interesting world-weary doom slant. When the riffs are there to back that atmosphere, it complements proceedings rather better than the keyboard and piano techniques used across other parts of the album, which make ‘New Dawn Coming’ fairly nice but ‘Ophidian’ fairly boring. For someone who was so good with guitars, it’s thus a bit disappointing to see Lodmalm reduced to just a riff or two per song, plus some slightly muted though pleasant soloing, though the presence of two other lead guitarists may mislead you on that score.

I’m not totally sure who would like this record anymore because it sounds clearly like a product of its time, all the more so when the quicker (and shorter) songs ‘Elysia’ and ‘Primal’ try to inject energy into proceedings, sort of proving interesting but not quite making up for the dullness in some other areas. Even when something like ‘Embrace’ goes for power and emphasis in its chorus, there’s something missing, be it conviction in Lodmalm’s voice or strong backing from his bandmates, but in any case it doesn’t arrive at the intended destination, simply sounding indecisive. There is certainly some moody worth in songs such as ‘Closer to the Pain’ and strong closer ‘The Wake’, but nothing spectacular and nothing terribly creative.

Naturally, anyone with even a passing interest in mid-‘90s gothic metal would be advised to check this out, since it might be up your alley, though most of the rest of us will shrug at Sundown, since it doesn’t go far enough in either direction – neither metal nor goth enough to satisfy for riffs or despondent atmosphere. Sigh.