Beneath The Silence – Black Lights
Prime Collective
Release Date: 11/02/22
Running Time: 40:38
Review by Simon Black
6/10
Whilst pitching themselves as Melodic Metal, there’s a lot more in the mix for this Danish five piece. For a start the synth-laden mood and tone of the whole piece feels more like fairly generic Gothic / Symphonic in the Lacuna Coil or Within Temptation mould, but with the added brutality of some more Metalcore riffage to make things sound a bit more punchy. To be truly Melodic Metal in my book though, your songs need to be a little more uplifting and positivity focussed even when in minor keys which is not what’s happening here, whereas this material is definitely in the tradition of all things dark and moody. That’s not to say that it’s not effective, but it’s not breaking any boundaries of originality here either. This is slightly frustrating as this feels like a case of potential untapped rather than a deficit of talent.
However, the band have youth on their side and clearly the playing chops to grow into that space, and this is their first full-length album to go alongside the slow burn couple of EP’s they have managed to date since their inception in 2013. The songs on here are all well delivered and produced, with a clearly very cohesive interplay between the instrumentalists even if the arrangements are a bit by the numbers. That’s where I struggle with this record – the songs are well rounded each and of themselves, but after you’ve heard a few of them it starts to get a bit repetitive. We’re three tracks in until ‘In The Shadow Of Your Eyes’ starts to feel feel a bit more differentiated, with its more emphatic phrasing and pacing which shifts the emphasis from the instruments and allowing Mette Hessellund’s vocals to lead strongly from the front. I’ve also got a soft spot for the closer ‘Nowhere To Go’which is why it was probably a wise choice for the first single, but in the spaces in between things can get a bit repetitive and Hessellund can get a bit lost in the mix on occasions.
Perhaps Aarhus in Denmark is not drowning in similar sounding acts the way Finland or Sweden are (this may not be surprising as you think, as when I visited it twenty years ago it was quite short on bars, never mind Metal clubs), but if you are going to compete on a global stage you need to be perhaps a little more differentiated than the competition. When it stands out, it stands out well, but a little bit more variety in tone would have gone a very long way here.
‘In the Shadow Of Your Eyes’ Official Video
TRACKLISTING:
01. All I See
02. Break You
03. In the Shadow of Your Eyes
04. Take Over Me
05. Open Wounds
06. The Taste of Bitterness
07. Wide Awake
08. Over the Edge
09. Fear
10. Nowhere to Go
LINE-UP:
Mette Hessellund – Vocals
Rene Larsen – Guitar
Søren Stenhøj Draws – Bass
Daniel Rasmussen – Guitar
Mikkel Thuesen Petersen – Drums
LINKS:
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