To Hell and Back

“Listen up everybody, because, the bitch, is, back!", as is proclaimed at the start of “The Bitch is Back”, the first track off of “To Hell and Back”. The bitch is, I suppose, Kimberly Goss, and perhaps her power metal act Sinergy too. By her side she has veteran musicians Alexi Laiho and Roope Latvala of Children of Bodom fame on guitar, Marco Heitala of Nightwish fame on bass, and Tommi Lillman, a drummer, to be honest, I am not familiar with. While some look at this band as a super-group of sorts, I see them more as a bunch of musicians who are looking to just have fun playing some traditional/power metal.

I know a lot of people find Alexi to be a bitch (and that may, or may not be true), but the guy really can play. So if you like Alexi's playing style, you'll like this release, as he's let to run wild, and he generally goes for the glory. On the other hand, it's nice to hear something else by Alexi. While he usually goes for the gullet non-stop with Children of Bodom, he plays quite technically here, while showing a surprising amount of restraint. Roope Latvala isn't a slouch either. He does his fair share of riffing wankery as well. Truth be told, I think Alexi and Roope do a very good job of playing off each other on this disc (definitely more so than they do in any Children of Bodom release). They play rhythm and leads off of each other so smoothly and flawlessly, you almost can't pick out who's playing what. Additionally, both go balls out with the solos, and this metal fan truly appreciated it. Even going as far as to write bridges that seem to build straight to the solos themselves (1:40-2:38 in "Last Escape" is essentially just a build-up for the solos that follow it). I liked this too. Both of the solos in "Gallowmere”, in particular, are definitely worth mentioning. Put plainly, Alexi and Roope are the album’s draw.

Kimberly Goss isn't an amazing singer, but she does hold her own. I think she also does a very good job delivering a decent amount of passion through her vocals (I think "Gallowmere" highlights this pretty well), even if, tonally, they aren't the best vocals ever. Marco and Tommi hold things together nicely, but are honestly just not the focus. It’s all about Kimberly Goss, and like I mentioned previously, really it’s more about the two guitarists than anything else.

Unfortunately, this album suffers from a couple of poor tracks. I found "Laid to Rest" and "Wake up in Hell" to be boring, tedious, and [unconvincingly] cheesy. Then "Laid to Rest" is placed right in the middle of the album - totally destroying all energy and momentum. The song effectively kills any and all flow the album previously possessed. I don't have an issue with bands writing ballad-style songs, but you better make sure it isn't lame, or it will have to potential to totally alienate a listener. Plus, if it wasn't for the cover of "Hanging on the telephone" (a Blondie song), the album would go out ("Wake up in Hell") pretty poorly too. I don't think bands have to end with their best song, but they shouldn't end with one of their worst. Lucky for Sinergy, Alexi Laiho has a cross genre cover fetish (though the cover isn't anything worthwhile either really). Otherwise the album is pretty strong. The remaining tracks are all quite good (with only "Lead us to War" being good, but somewhat lacking), and make this album work for me. Despite the bad tracks the album does contain, it is, in the end, a solid enough album. Though, I think that they should have just axed the three weaker tracks and had a twenty-five minute, blistering, power metal extravaganza that just soars with hyper riffs and catchy hooks. That's not the case though. So while I do like this album a lot, it isn't perfect.

First off, this "supergroup" of sorts suffers a virus that most supergroups suffer from, and that is, they rely more on technical ability than songwriting ability. The thing is, there really isn't enough technical ability to pull that approach off even moderately well.

Secondly, this reminds me of music that bored 13 year old "metalheads" listen to before they grow a brain (and in the male case) a pair of balls. It's incredibly trendy, and although it's not the -core scene I'm referring to, it's scene as hell. The scene I'm referring to is the same group of folks who find Cradle of Filth, Dimmu, Horgh-era Immortal, Children of Bodom, At the Gates, and In Flames to be "HEVY FUKCING METAL!!!1111oneoneoneone". Basically, the mallcore crowd. To the rest of us with an IQ above 100, it induces headaches.

Since metal always has been and always should be driven by guitars, let's talk about the guitars first. There is nothing Alexi brings to the table here. Basically you're gonna expect everything you've heard from COB, but toned down and even more filler. Laiho is THE most one dimensional guitarist I've EVER heard who plays "virtuoso" metal. He may have technical talent, but he has no style, no feeling, no nothing, just the same chords and scales over and over again.

Onwards to the singing, since they've been horrifyingly and painfully mixed high. Kim Goss makes my dick shrivel up with her voice. The tone is all wrong, and because her voice is mixed up so damn high, I can hear how juvenile the lyrics are. Seriously, this reeks of mallcore, and it's best left unsaid how terrible the lyrics are.

The rest of the instruments are pretty much irrelevant, as they don't do anything but follow the guitars. The drums don't stick out or do anything fancy, and for all I know they could be a machine. The bass just hides behind the guitars the whole time, and again, for all I know they don't have a bassist.

Avoid this at all costs, there's NOTHING going on here, just more commercial shit. If it's possible, it's worse than COB and Dimmu put together, who are 2 influences I hear in this "music".

So when I first heard that Sinergy was Alexi's side project, I was expecting blistering fast power metal. Luckily I was wrong. To Hell and Back is a rather solid power metal which can be enjoyed on several levels. Concider it a mellowed out Bodom.
Unlike Alex's riff work in Children of Bodom, Sinergy has more bearable riffs that don't go 100000 mph. Songs like "Lead us to War" clearly exemplify that Alexi can still righ a bitchin power metal song, without going giving it an excess of cheese. A huge bonus is that the album feels rather consistent BUT does not loose the listeners attention. Each song is pretty different from the next, but it still offers the same as the last. The drums keep a pretty solid rhythm but still has some flare so that the focus is not entirely on the vocals and guitars.
Unfortunately this album is not entirely perfect. The albums biggest flaw is the vocals. Goss' vocals are too bland. They don't really change much. Along with the sub par vocals comes the lyrical content. The music and lyrics do not mesh. You'd think that with the rather grim lyrical content Goss brings to the table would be backed by grim and dark music. Goss' lyrical content does belong in power metal. It belongs in American pop metal. They remind me of something a depressed teenager would right. It's too generic and takes away from the well composed music (which makes buying this album all the worth while).
If you want to buy this album, buy it for the music and pay no attention to the vocals.

Sinergy might turn off some people, but there are countless worse bands out there these days and the talent pool is growing rather thin, as over ten years of the mainstream shunning true metal has dried it out considerably, with more and more people looking to the past. This album, unlike most others nowadays, contains no mallcore elements, and relies more on something of a traditional metal sound with clean vocals, moderate-paced riffs, and melodic neoclassical leads and solos on top of it. It's far from brutal, but it somehow manages to be quite energetic for the most of the album -- but in comparison, speed/thrash/death metal and Children of Bodom are fanatical in comparison.

I think of Kim Goss in this album as a female Steve Grimmett, since some comparison being made for the vocals here and there. However, for fairness' sake, I will not think of her eskimo-like appearance. Her voice is most likely annoying to most people, but it's not godawful, either, and you can get used to it pretty fast. It's not pretty, but it's not harsh -- however, it's devoid of any honest emotion, which doesn't match the lyrics and leaves it a bit empty.

01) The Bitch is Back - It starts poorly with Goss screaming "Listen everybody, the bitch is back!" that sounds like nails on a chalkboard. However, it gets to some heavy bass drumming -- perhaps a bit overdone -- and riffing with some melodic flourishes. Kim Goss' voice isn't bad, but this song isn't great. However, Laiho delivers with the 45-second long solo, as usual, but it's far from anything legendary -- for a regular guitarist, it would be great, but it's average. The song really isn't that great.

02) Midnight Madness - An annoying laugh starts out this one, but it gets better with a pretty damned catchy melodic riff that starts out the song. The singing is energetic and keeps the song moving, while the bass comes out rather well from the production. The solo climbs and descends scales at a very rapid pace, but is brief and tasteful. OK song.

03) Lead Us To War - It starts out with a decent introduction, and the "Lead Us to War" somehow sticks in my head. It has some pretty good riffs, and is a fair song.

04) Laid to Rest - Utter crap. It's mostly Goss threatening suicide, but it lacks any depressive emotion whatsoever and is one of those pathetic cries for attention. Truly suicidal people would tell no one of their intentions.

05) Gallomere - I like the riffing that begins about 30 seconds into it. However, it continues with Kim's energetic singing, with moderately fast guitar playing like the rest. The chorus, again, is somewhat catchy: "My name, Issuruk, the sorceror...". The solo is quite fast, and pretty well done. Not a bad song at all, and probably my favorite on the album.

06) Return to the Fouth World - This starts with another nice melodic beginning, and then goes into Kim Goss trying to sound like Dave Mustaine? The neoclassical elements show up in this song, and Kim tries to sing somewhat sweetly -- but isn't very convincing. The solo is wailing.

07) Last Escape - This song reminds me of a Grim Reaper song that I can't put my finger on. The lyrics, however, are even worse than the average Grim Reaper song. It also tries to be heavier, with the use of double bass, and a loud bass guitar.

08) Wake Up in Hell - Somewhat of a boring song, with a droning riff that the lead guitar doesn't even match up. It also contains plenty more of Kim Goss whining and feeling sorry for herself. However, it's not an awful song.

09) Hanging on the Telephone -- Arrgh, cell phone tone! This Blondie cover is pretty bad, with its sped up tempo and laughably bad use of double bass.

Is this worth buying? Not really. It's not the greatest showcase of Laiho's work by far, and otherwise it is just an ok album. It doesn't have any mallcore elements, other than Kim Goss whining and feeling sorry for herself -- though I'd be willing to say the mallcore bands are better at trying to. Some of the songs are somewhat catchy, however, and most of it is pretty decent. If you like Laiho and can pick it up second hand for something like $3 and have some loose change, go for it and make your collection one bigger.