Dreams of Endless War

When a starting band gets help from another band then similar traits are bound to follow. Such is the case with Norther as members were close friends to members from Finnish giants Children of Bodom. Similarities are good in the sense that if you like one band then you will most likely like the other, however if it’s a carbon copy then it's just boring and unoriginal. So I was pleased and relieved to hear some clear differences between Norther and CoB.

After listening to this album through, the first thing that can't help but be noticed is the strength, technicality and general prominence of the guitars. Petri Lindroos and Kristian Ranta are responsible for unleashing some very memorable riffs and solos that are produced in this album. Nowhere better to hear this than on the awesome track Last Breath which has some very interesting compositions. Victorious One also sports some unique tunes and follows in the same vein as the monstrous Endless War which is one of the highlights of the album.

The general atmosphere and mood of the album is that of aggression and anger which works very well with Petri's style of vocals. Although it sounds like Alexi Laihos' of CoB there is one definitive difference and that is that Alexi does the occasional low growls whereas Petri sticks to the high screams. The production, recording quality and maturity is excellent for a debut album. So good in fact that I'd say its better than Children of Bodom's first two releases.

Toni Hallio on drums does solid work right from the beginning on the opening song Darkest Time in which he utilizes different styles that range from double bass to blast beats. This can also be heard on the keyboard laden song Released. And now for the Children of Bodom similarities that cannot be ignored. The keyboards. As good and well placed as they are on this record they scream CoB. The intro to the song Nothing Left sounds identical to CoB, the general sound, the style, the placing in the song. This keyboard style and sound can also be heard on Darkest Time and Dream.

The song structure is fairly similar throughout the album which is a bit boring but isn't terribly noticeable. Also the lyrics are a bit bland and generic at times like on the song Dream where they are just plain bad. Bass is lacking on almost every track but Jukka Koskinen does play out a sweet bassline in Released. The length of some of the songs could be cut down like the nearly 7 minute Endless War, but I am just being picky now.

At the end of the day these similarities are not unexpected so in my opinion they don't tarnish this otherwise very solid album from a group of skilled musicians. One can only hope that they continue their great melodic death metal in a similar fashion.

Norther really does not need an introduction. They are referred to as Children of Bodom clones. In reality, this is very far from true. They have a similar sound (melodic death metal, with a power metal atmosphere) but are a very different band. They did, however, get their start with the help of Children of Bodom, so people often use THAT as a way to call them COB rip-offs, which is really just absurd. This is a great album, however, the band would improve with age. Their next album, "Mirror of Madness," is brilliant and is only surpassed a little by "Death Unlimited." However, on the album after that, "Till Death Unites Us," they went a little down hill, and ever since they lost Petri Lindroos, they have, while still a solid band, only been a shadow of what they used to be. Still, I find that any one of their albums beats the three latest Children of Bodom albums... Hell, I'll take "Mirror of Madness" or "Death Unlimited" over ANY Bodom album... Anyway, I have rambled on enough I guess. Let us indulge into the awesomeness that is Norther. This debut album "Dreams of Endless War" is quite impressive, with some flaws.

This album is basically the product of a still very young band getting familiar with writing with eachother, and writing songs. They were only in their early 20's when this album was released back in 2002. The production value of this is SOLID. Quite impressive for a debut album, actually. It is similar to Children of Bodom's 1997 debut "Something Wild" in terms of production. Not fuzzy, yet not over produced, thus leaving a nice atmosphere to fit the music. The keyboards help to create a cold wintery feeling to the overall atmosphere, and without the keyboards, this would not be nearly as special as it is. The keyboard solos on this album are kept in check; not overtaking the music, but not lagging behind in the background. The keyboard solos in "Nothing Left" are quite amazing. They add an almost "digital" sound to the music. And of course, Petri Lindroos was pretty much the essence of Norther. His vocals are amazing and add great deals of emotion, and his guitar soloing was just...wow. The guitar work in the intro especially, of "Last Breath" is melodic, and amazing. That solo in the aforementioned song "Nothing Left" is breathtaking. But again on the topic of keyboards, they are at their best, in my opinion, in the song "Victorious One." This song actually happens to be my favourite song on the entire album. It is about 5 minutes of intensity, brutality, and melody. The drums in this track are somewhat black metal sounding in the blast beats and the guitar is melodic as fuck, and keyboards seem to be playing in the background at all time, seeming to add a neo-classical atmosphere and making the song have a chilly feel overall. Speaking of black metal drumming... We can also hear that on the song "Released" quite a bit, which is actually probably the most well-known song off of the album. AGAIN WITH THE KEYBOARDS!!!!!!!! The instrumental song "The Last Night" serves as an interlude between the original Norther tracks, and the ninth and final track "Final Countdown," being a cover of the song by Europe. "Final Countdown" has a very epic sound, especially in the intro. The synths here are incredible.

Lyric wise, this band is also much, much better than Children of Bodom. For example:

I am all alone in this pitch-black night
All my dreams in vain
I am the one who lost the fight
Black shadows around me, no hope, no light left inside

(From the song "Nothing Left") these are pretty nice lyrics. Unlike with COB, whereas the lyrics (for example) in the song "In Your Face" go like:

dont give a flying fuck motherfucker
I dont give a flying fuck motherfucker
I dont give a flying
I dont give a flying
I dont give a flying FUCK!

Yeah, yeah.... Okay. That just sounds retarded. Sure, the word "fuck" appears on this album too at times, but it is not used in such a way as COB uses it.

Basically, this is a great album from a young aspiring group of musicians. Now, I did mention flaws... And flaws would be at times, the album seems too loud on one song, and the others seem too quiet. Maybe it's just me, but that is what I heard here. Another would be at times, it sounds a little cheesy due to the heavy influence of power metal. Then again, with power metal, you will hear a lot of cheesiness, so it's not too surprising anyway.

Recommended for fans of: Cadacross, Ensiferum, Insomnium, Children of Bodom, Wintersun, Kalmah, Arthemesia, Imperanon.. Any of these Finnish giants in the metal world, really.

Norther, the same band digesting the exact same sound on every single one of their albums. If the formula works, then there's not much of a problem, but when a band like Norther comes out of the melodic death realm, it spells trouble for just about everyone. On these earlier releases, the band had their motives in the right places and knew how to achieve whatever they wanted to accomplish. That's why, as flat as the power / speed metal slant of melodic death metal that Norther is known for playing is, there is some level of dignity to be found here.

Let's say you want to hear Children Of Bodom, a band that's a cousin to this one. You expect fast energy, cheesy keys, blaring guitar leads, power metal atmosphere, and Iron Maiden grace with riffs that have some echelon of harsh distortion. Top it all off with harsh screams and now it's a salad full of Finnish melodic death metal. Astounding, but bring it down a notch in terms of creativity and bring it up a notch of repetitive simplicity and now it's a salad full of Norther... again, and again, and again, and even more after that. That's the biggest gripe with this style of metal - practically all the bands in it get too absorbed in the exact same sound without making it worth the time. Oh, they try and make it cool all right: neck-break lead and riff speeds, an upbeat tone, power / neoclassical metal solos from the guitars and keys, consistently fast drumming without any catchy rhythms, lyrics without thought, and vocals that push it all over the edge.

With Dreams Of Endless War specifically, the band tries to come out the gates without any bit of compositional diversity. Every song here is written the same way, the melodies (as middling as they are) run together, and the vocals have no passion behind them. Bass support is nice and thick on the low side, and the drumming is competent enough to keep rhythm going, but nothing reinvigorates anything. There's concise playing, decent production, and keyboard prowess that allows for obtaining the synth sound for the atmosphere or for overplaying cheap melodies, but there's no direction. Hitting play means fast, squeaky clean riffs and harmonies come out of the Finnish woodwork and run amok (except the boring instrumental). The production jobs brings out the loud, clear sound, but it isn't as polished as that of the later albums. Nonetheless, as much destruction as Norther wishes to cause with their pent up angst, this is still very domesticated when putting it next to Finnish melodic death peers Kalmah.

For the most part, if you dig Children Of Bodom or Skyfire, then Norther is right up the butt in terms of pleasure. "Last Breath" indeed is a song that deserves its own mention in terms of sweetness. The harmonies and riffs are in the right places, the structure is well-written, and their seems to be a deeper feeling that the band would nail on Mirror Of Madness. For Dreams Of Endless War, however, it's an overall mediocre-fest and an inability to do something better with the same ideas as other bands. Even the Europe cover is dry and built around the fact that it's a Europe song and that it's supposed be as catchy and over-the-top as the original. Simply put, throw this album in the dumpster if you have it and go listen to Mirror Of Madness for the exact same album (done better).

Ah, Norther. One of my favorite bands, but no band is perfect. Their 2002 debut, Dreams of Endless War, showcased a band still developing and finding their own sound. Although with only seven real songs' worth of original material (plus a pretty good instrumental and a meh cover of "The Final Countdown" at the end), seven songs are enough to throw everything that's right- and a lot of what's wrong- about this album into sharp relief.

First off, the "riffs". That's in quotes because, to be honest, there are very few good riffs on here. Most of the time, it's just power metal-styled chugging over and over for minutes on end. These "riffs" are backed by equally soulless drumming. Toni plays the same double bass pattern over and over, occasionally throwing in a fill or break or blast beat section. Okay, the drumming isn't horrible, but there's room for improvement, which would happen in the space of about a year (!!!). The basswork, on the other hand, is excellent. It should be obvious why Jukka Koskinen was picked for Wintersun and (more recently) Cain's Offering. He even takes a solo in "Nothing Left", how many metal bassists do that?

Speaking of solos, the lead guitars are one of the defining parts of DoEW. Petri takes a lead over almost every chorus, which would be nice if they didn't all sound the same. It kind of waters down the idea of a melodic chorus, and they start to blend together after a few listens (hell, even one). The lead on "Endless War" stands out for some reason or another, maybe because of the keyboard harmonies. But the choruses aren't the only parts with leads, there are melodies crammed almost everywhere except the verses. The prechorus of "Nothing Left" is a really good one, and "Victorious One" has some nice leadwork.

Songwriting... Ugh. Most of the album is at roughly the same tempo, and ALL of it (except, ironically, the cover at the end) is in the same key. Same key + same tempo + same riffs for an entire album = almost the same song, at least that's what it feels like sometimes. The band fares better when they slow down. "Last Breath" and "Dream" are both excellent tracks, despite being the slowest ones on the album. Hell, even the instrumental, "The Last Night", is a nice piano piece.

The solos are a mixed bag. Kride plays up and down the A minor scale over and over (really fast!), but Petri's solos are a bit more inventive. Tuomas's keyboard solos spice up the album a lot, he's a real master at the ivories. So what happens when you have Petri and Tuomas trading off really, really fast for about half a minute? Pure awesomeness, and the solo section on "Released".

Even when he's not taking a solo, Tuomas makes himself heard. Whether he's just adding an icy choir to the background, putting a zippy harpsichord lead over a bland verse, or harmonising (or replacing, like he does on "Darkest Time") one of the guitar leads, Tuomas adds to the overall sound in a way that makes sense rather than just existing to piss off people who don't like keyboards. And, of course, he's a talented keyshredder.

And finally, the lyrics. Doesn't it suck when a band with as much talent as Norther writes lines like "It's time to cut, bleed and die!" ("Nothing Left")? It's not a language barrier, their English is better than, say, Sonata Arctica's (not that there's anything wrong with them), so what happened?

Wow, I wrote (most of) an entire Norther review without mentioning Children of Bodom. That has to be a first. Anyways, this, like I said, was Norther's first album. Their follow-up, released just a year later, 2003's Mirror of Madness, would see the band improving almost everywhere that they missed on this album. The lyrics were less annoyingly whiny, the riffs were more varied, and the drumming was much more solid. On the songwriting front, they stepped outside the A minor box and wrote more diverse songs. The parts they got right, they kept. But that's for another review, and given all the changes to come, this album leaves plenty of room for improvement.

Norther's first full-length album "Dreams of Endless War" could deceive many. With such a mature, captivating sound only two years after the band's conception and the release of a mere demo, who could deny the band's talent and tenacity? Children of Bodom worship this is not; Norther carved their own niche into the now-overpopulated subgenre, and demand respect for it.

The album boasts a track listing devoid of filler, centralized around a sometimes-melodic, sometimes-thrashy, midpaced sound with tinges of neo-classical influences rearing up from time to time. The production is good, not great. Satisfactory for a debut LP. While every instrument is audible, the low end is notably inadequate. Petri Lindroos and Kristian Ranta are quite the formidable guitar duo, with particularly impressive solos and leadwork. As stated earlier, the guitarwork is best described as melodic with tinges of thrash and neo-classical elements; a unique and fitting style that the band later dropped in light of a more straightforward approach. Able keyboardist Tuomas Planman supplements the guitars with a wide array of harpsichord and choral-central voices. His inclusion completes the band's sound, as evident in the memorable neo-classical intro to "Nothing Left". Jukka Koskinen is skilled on bass, as I can attest to, having the pleasure of seeing the band play live. He is however robbed of much of his presence by the aforementioned skewed production. Tony Hallio is adequate on the kit, lending a solid backbone for the band to work around, albeit uninteresting and bland at times.

The tracks are quite lengthy for this style of music. Subtracting the short instrumental "The Last Night", the rest of the cuts average out over 5 minutes. You probably won't notice, however, as classics such as "Last Breath" and "Darkest Time" progress quite nicely, keeping things fresh. My only personal letdown present here would be the cover. Not only is The Final Countdown cliche and overplayed in its own right, a "cover" that does nothing to shake up the original minus the inclusion of harsh vocals doesn't do much to excite me. Regardless, that leaves seven quality tracks rounded out with a beautiful piano instrumental. This debut can't be missed by fans of the genre, or melodic metal in general.

Very interesting band, to say the least. What do generally people have to say about them? You may have heard them referred to as the "Children of Bodom Clones." True, there ARE some similarities, but you'd be surprised at the originality of this band. Last Breath, Darkest Time, and Endless War are masterpieces.

The drumming on this album is excellent . The guitars may be a bit repetitive at times, but I found them to my liking. The vocals are harsh and snarly, and to be quite honest, I think a slightly cleaner style of singling would have fit better with the band's style of music. Lastly, I need to mention the keyboards. The mention of keyboards has been a turn-off for many metal fans, but I assure you, they are used flawlessly in this album. In fact, I'd say they are the band's strongest quality.

The mention of keyboards brings me to the last song on the album: a cover of Europe's "Final Countdown." Again, the keyboards on this piece are flawless. Norther managed to cover the song as to not make a copy, but to add their own style to it, and come out with a result that is several times better than the original.

For a good melodic power metal band, check Norther out. If originality is what is concerning you, don't doubt them. Norther have plenty of that.

-Marcin C.

Norther's first album is still their best so far. Although they are accused of being Children of Bodom clones, I find their sound is much less frantic and fast than any Children of Bodom album, though there are similarities. They know how to create both excellent melodies and riffs, and the vocals, while not anything exceptional, are fine. Add some good drumming and we have a very good album.

The standout track on here is Last Breath. This is an extremely kickass melodeath song, using a main kickass melody and some more excellent riffs and leads in between the verses and choruses. There is also quite a nice solo in this song. Other great tracks include Endless War, which too has some cool melodies but ends up getting too repetitive, Dream, which focuses on the rhythm guitars and then a shitload of excellent leads later on in the song, and Nothing Left, which reminds me of the Children of Bodom song Downfall and kicks just as much ass. There are no bad songs on this album. It also ends with a cover of "The Final Countdown," which is interesting to say the least.

This album will most likely appeal to those who enjoy bands like older In Flames, slower Bodom songs and Ensiferum style melodies. This is an excellent album, and the best Norther have released so far, so if you're looking for a Norther CD, get this one.

Melodic speed/power metal with harsh vocals. Overall sound and style is similar to Children of Bodom. The heap of keyboard solos might turn some people from this album, but I feel they are used pretty well. However, though it fits the sound and feel of the music pretty well, the keyboard tone is quite grating most of the time, and I drop at least 5% for it. Some of the melodies are pretty similar in the different songs, and some of the rhythm riffs sound similar, but none of the songs sound exactly the same. At about 3:09 in “Last Breath” (song 2) there is a keyboard part on piano setting that I think follows almost the same melody as the piano in Van Hagar’s “Right Now”, though I might be wrong about that. I would say the 5th song, “Dream” is my favorite from the album, for its thrashy riffs, and good leads. The melodic lead during the chorus of this song is the best part of the album. The 8th song, “The Last Night” is an instrumental piano solo with wind sounds. The closer is a cover of “The Final Countdown”, one of those overly cheesy glam anthems from the 80’s, but its still an enjoyable song. The musicians display incredible technical skill with their instruments, shred fans will probably enjoy this album. The album overall is really nothing special or unique, but is quite enjoyable throughout, with the possible exception of “The Last Night”, which is kind of boring. Check it out. Especially recommended for speed metal fans or power metal fans that can take harsh vocals.