TRANSFIGURATION
MCD
REVIEWS PAGE 3
BRITISH
UNDERGROUND METAL BANDS (ENGLAND)
Emotion
laden doom metal. Good production and a very clear guitar sound allows the riffage
to be heard and enjoyed. Another thing that surprised me was the vocals, normally
this type of music is let down by terrible moaning vocals but the singer can
actually sing. The general sound of the album is in the MDB / solstice vein
with use of atmospheric keyboards and violins. Greatly enjoyable. 7/10
Review by Brooke.
KLOCKRADIO
- POWERHOUR (NETHERLANDS)
Unsilence-Transfiguration MCD (band release 2000) 21.03 "Transfiguration" is
the first album of a young English band called Unsilence and they have put 3
lengthy songs on this disc. They play heavy metal with gothic influences (especially
the vocals) which remind me of Paradise Lost in their "Gothic" and "Shades of
God" days. The main difference is that Unsilence plays a bit faster than Paradise
Lost did but the quality level is quit comparable, which can be see as a compliment
for a starting band. "Gallery" is my favorite song but the other 2 songs are
great as well. The album comes with a professional booklet. 8
METAL
JUDGEMENT (U.S.A.)
This "demo" (or self financed CD, whatever you want to call it) was handed to
me because, in all honesty, its artwork looks like a death metal band. Since
I seem to have a certain liking for that style of music, they often come to
me. So imagine my surprise when a speakerful of Doom hit my ears upon taking
this disc for a spin. (I should've known it; you can actually read the logo.)
It goes without saying that I had to shift my expectations around ultra-fast,
or this disc wouldn't get a fair shake. So I'm going to do my best to maintain
a Doom state of mind. And an altered state of mind, as well, for that matter.
So these guys appear to be from England. What the hell do the English know about
Doom? (Oh yeah, that whole Sabbath thing) Well, I gotta tell you, I dig these
guys. Their bio shows that they've been around for awhile, and that really shows
in their playing. For being a self-financed CD, I think it's quite a commendable
production job, and their ability to incorporate synth sounds and strings is
impressive. The songwriting is cool as well. They utilize a few riffs and, although
the songs are lengthy, are able to keep them interesting with the use of additional
sounds that work off of the guitar rather than compete with it. And aside from
that, the songs are just plain catchy, in a doomy sort of way. Vocals are a
little My Dying Bride-ish and, while there's nothing wrong with them, they can
seem a little monotonous at times. But that's just nitpicking a little. Aside
from that, the biggest liability of this CD is that it's only three songs, and
once you really start getting into it, it's over. The basic question is if you
want to spend this amount of money on 3 pretty cool Doom songs.
Contact: www.metaljudgement.com
TRIDENT
NETZINE (GERMANY)
Unsilence have sure had their fair share of bad luck in the past with labels
but, undiscouraged, they have now released a great MCD featuring 3 tracks of
atmospheric doom death metal. I say doom death somewhat reluctantly as Unsilence
aren't what I would call typical for this genre. Although "Transfiguration"
has a distinctly heavy side to it, it also has all the emotion of bands like
My Dying Bride, Primordial and Solstice which seethes under the surface of this
perfect accompaniment to a bottle of red wine. I found it rather irritating
that this is a mere three track release as I'm damn sure there are more sides
to this band than they are able to show us here. I can only recommend that doom
fans get hold of this gem (plus a bottle of cheap red wine!) and allow yourselves
to be drawn into the realm of Unsilence
Review by Sharon Wennekers.