The Year of Our Lord

After hearing TYOOL's older material (The Frozen Divide), I was greatly anticipating this self-titled release, and I am not dissapointed in the least. Here we have melodic (death) metal from Massachusetts, similar to the Gothenburg sound but sometimes leaning toward even more traditional elements, that is not groundbreaking or anything really new. However, the emotion within and excellent songwriting make this a truly outstanding listen. The riffs and soaring melodies throughout are simple, yet very powerful. The opportunities for headbanging are many, as are opportunites for emotional outburst.

The highlights of the album include the opener "Dead to You", an uptempo song with soaring melodies and an In Flames-like feel. "Wombdisease" is another song i found to be very powerful, with its emotion ridden riffs and lyrics. "Gones of Astria" starts off with a nice acoustic passage that leads into a slower tempo song with very good melodic riffs and some clean singing. "Serpentine Medea" is another excellent song, with some great riffs and powerful lead work. My favorite off of the album would have to be "Nightlark", starting off with a simple but effective piano piece with duel lead guitars playing over it, which then bursts into an emotional up-tempo song with some excellent melodic riffing. The album closes with "Kismet (daughter of nevir)", a mid-tempo song with one of the catchiest melodic riffs i've heard in a long time, a great end to a great album.

I would reccomend this album to anyone who can appreciate good melodic metal without expecting anything too original or groundbreaking. If you want something emotional, melodic, and exceptionally well-written than get purchase this album ASAP!