Wither

Evemaster is one band that many people give a lot of flak, especially on their early works, most likely due to the fact that they had quite a few guest musicians on Wither. Many people also dislike Jarno’s vocals at times, which is why I’m giving this release a 95%. Nonetheless, Evemaster had to know what they were doing, as they made an almost flawless album. Evemaster combines their melodic death metal sound with a bit of black metal influences on this album. The musical genius of Tomi Mykkänen is shown in full swing on Wither. Elements of progressive, power, and melodic death all come together in a very enjoyable way.

Wither enjoys an amazing quality of both the guitar riffs and their sound. The guitars have a very heavy feel to them while employing very enjoyable melodic riffs. Imagine Skyfire’s Mind Revolution mixed with Insomnium’s first demo and that’s the best description of the guitars and keys I can give you. Two flawless sounds coming together. While I mention the keys, they are mixed incredibly well with the guitars in a very well thought out manner. The bass is essentially inaudible and provides a little support while the drums support the music very well. They calm down at all the right times and provide all the backbone the riffs need.

Evemaster definitely knew what they were doing when they chosen to skip putting solos into their songs. Instead the band focuses more on the music and the songs benefit all around from this. They don’t feel like they all have the same song structure, the verses feel strongly put together, and the bridges of the songs feel more progressive and planned out.

Onto the vocals where this album seems to get some heat. Jarno’s harsh vocals (I don’t believe he did the cleans) are good, but not great. The vocals are obviously mostly done in highs. At times, especially on songs like Stars – Serenity – Burning, his voice sounds like it’s straining a lot. I’d rather have him go a bit deeper and not sound like he’s straining to produce his screams. Had he gone a bit deeper at times, his vocals may have fit the album a bit better.

In conclusion, the songs Plea, Nothing But Grey, Spirits Intertwined, and Disgraceful are definitely the high points of this album. Those songs have all the things melodic death metal should have and will keep you listening to them again and again. There are a few weak points on the vocals, but the music will make up for them. Wither is an excellent release by an excellent band.

This is another release shit out by Low Frequency Records, a label from Finland that seems to specialize in releasing bad albums by Finnish bands and then immediately farming them out to Crash Music for re-release rights. They tend to cover music in that loathsome melodic death/power/folk style that was so popular among no one for a few years back in the '00s, and it's all predictably awful for the most part. It's a style I've never enjoyed and I would almost say can't be done well if it weren't for isolated moments of quality in the form of bands like Searing Meadow, who somehow, probably through a pact with demonic forces, managed to churn out a pretty decent album that adhered to that sound's general guidelines.

Admittedly, Evemaster doesn't make me want to kill myself as much as, say, Kaliban or most of the other bands in that scene. There's still about a trillion things I would listen to before 'Wither', but I'll give the band credit in that I'm actually fairly convinced that they enjoy what they're doing and take it fairly seriously. The impression I get from a lot of bands in this scene is that they're in a desperate bid to make music as a living, and make formless, bland music because they forget all about the fact that no one wants to listen to music that sucks. Thus, bands like Kaliban or latter-era Dispatched, bands who don't sound like anyone else but are still so generic they're entirely meaningless in the greater context of the metal scene. Evemaster is a little different- they definitely adhere to the obnoxious style they're emulating, but unlike a lot of these bands, it sounds like Evemaster actually WANTS to play in this vein. For whatever reason.

If you've heard other Finnish melodeath/power/folk bands, you have an idea of what's going on here. The bulk of the music is based off of simple power metal riffs, but a sense of melodeath harmonization (and vocalization) is present alongside hints of folk in the form of acoustic instruments, keys, clean vocals, and the general melodic sensibility. It's not terribly exciting music; most of the songs proceed in exactly the manner you'd expect, and the band never gets particularly aggressive or extreme. Most of the music on 'Wither' is based on a rolling, galloping midpace, with riffs that are equal parts Hammerfall and generic Gothenburg, but minus the memorability either. Verse/chorus song structures are prominent, with clean vocals popping up in the choruses, to a greater or lesser effect. They're capably performed but sort of underutilized- the vocal melodies are simple and brief, and the band could benefit from drawing them out more and making them a more significant part of the music. The same goes for the riffs, which get very samey very quickly since the band seems to be so locked into one general rhythm and tempo for most of the album.

All that being said... I actually don't hate this. Evemaster sound a lot more enthusiastic about what they do than other bands in the same style, so there's not that oppressive dreariness that afflicts so many of their contemporaries. The keys are pretty neat on occasion, actually reminding me of Brazilian band Zargof in their application sometimes, and there's a little bit more songwriting complexity in the way melodic voices are added and subtracted as the music progresses. Perhaps the most surprising element is the drumming, which is actually quite nuanced at certain moments, with unconventional beat selections really helping to make this stuff a bit more interesting than it ordinarily would be. It's hardly incredible music, but I don't get involuntarily ill when I hear it.

This is definitely in the upper echelon of one of Finland's lamest niche scenes. I'm not really going to enthusiastically recommend it to any but those who really like stuff as cheesy as this, but frankly, Low Frequency released music a hell of a lot worse than this in their age. If you find this for like $5 (and you probably can without trouble), it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to give it a spin or two.