Living for the Thrills

Dice of Fate is a band I stumbled across through a friend. Said friend belongs to a musician's/guitar collector's website called Jackson Guitar Palace, of which guitarist/vocalist/session bassist Jani is the creator and administrator of. Hearing about Dice of Fate from this source, he purchases their debut and subsequently let me borrow it to see how it was.

I'll do my best to describe Dice of Fate's sound quickly. Pre Symphony of Destruction era Megadeth mixed with Accept and watered down with touches of W.A.S.P's type of glam metal/rock. Then mix that in with the "Finnish style" of metal guitar playing that has been raved about every since Children of Bodom became internationally known. That's what you get with Dice of Fate in a nutshell. It sounds rather interesting, and it definitely helps out. Unfortunately, Dice of Fate's debut album falls short of being another real gem of unknown metal material to come out of a country with a generally strong stream of well made heavy metal output.

One thing that I find rather strange is the way that things end up sounding in Dice Of Fate's finished product most of the time. The band has so many old school influences, as stated above their big three are Megadeth, Accept and Wasp. The band even goes on to be influenced by Therapy, and even by ZZ Top! The only thing remotely new in Dice of Fate's list of influences is influence from old (pre Hate Crew Death Roll) Children of Bodom. But what I do not get though is the fact that when I listen to this, a lot of the times it comes off sounding like something from Rev Theory or Disturbed. Maybe this is because of the fact that much of the time guitarist/vocalist Antti sounds a lot like the vocalists from Disturbed and Rev Theory instead of sounding like Dave Mustaine or Blackie Lawless or Udo Dirkschneider. While this is alright in many ways because it does make Dice of Fate stand out for band traditionally in their genre, I can't help but feel like they sound very alt-rockish, and on a metal album like this I would generally consider that a no-no.

Along with that, there's also the fact that there are a lot of times the music just sounds hollow. There are way too many parts where a distorted guitar is playing over a clean part and it just does not sound quite right. Along with that there are also many times when both guitarists are harmonizing when it sounds like they should be doing something else. A lot of effects are added to the guitar sound (not on the level of Dragonforce but they are there) at times and it kind of make things sound rather awkward. To top it off several times in the songs the lyrics just repeat themselves. Yes sometimes several lines just sound like they were previous lines but reworded, and the lyrics are generally lame. Most of the lyrics have an overall regretful sort of tone and are mostly about life and society. Typical kind of glamish lyrics with a bit more balls and sense to them, but otherwise nothing great. I'm happy that Dice of Fate's lyrics do have a lot of emotion to them probably helped along by that voice of Antti but otherwise I got to say they are pretty lame.

Enough of the bad though. Dice of Fate's debut album does have a lot of good to it. There are lots of very catchy hooks and the choruses are very well written. Generally all the vocal patterns are very well done and catchy, and when properly used the harmonies generally sound awesome. Dice of Fate is a very guitar centric band (not in the the sense that most people thing), and in terms of musician quality they are way above the ability level of most. Very Roope Latvala/Alexi Laiho esque solo work burns throughout Dice of Fate and there are plenty of blazing solos put in all the right places. Jari's drumming is generally well done and sounds very fitting to the music, keeping time and making some very nice and interesting rhythms all throughout the album. Despite the alt-rockish sort of sound I do like Antti's voice most of the time and it provides a great way to deliver the lyrics of the songs. Also his vocal patterns are very catchy, and deliver everything in just a way that is pretty well done for the most part.

Living For The Thrills is also rather well mixed and sounds pretty good. The guitars sound very thick and chunky but don't overpower everything else. Also the solo tone is generally great on them as well. The bass can be heard throughout the whole album and sounds just the way I think the bass should be, though the lines are rather rudimentary. The drums sound pretty good as well, right in a good place and generally standing out among everything else. The bass drums are a bit too plastic sounding when they should have a bit more of a thump but it's not that bad. I would possibly push them a bit up next time but for the most part I'm generally pleased with the way the album sounds. These guys clearly put some time into recording this album, and it clearly shows.