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Rating: Always Finland, always 1991, Sentenced debut. Well, imagine that, you might think, another unknown death metal band with the same name as those Sentenced, the gothic ones, but no, it's actually the same band, even if it doesn't seem like it. Perhaps it went unnoticed by many, but they were also part of that scene that characterized Finnish metal before the arrival of more appealing and less underground bands like Nightwish, Stratovarius, Sonata Arctica, and Children of Bodom, and their past is at least as dark as that of Demigod, Purtenance, and Amorphis (with the latter, they share a curiously parallel path of artistic evolution: first death metal album, second evolved and contaminated death, third starting to distance from the initial genre and finally, the fourth where death is now just a memory) as evidenced by the cover of their debut work "Shadows of the Past" (the original one, not the "polite" reissue version designed to entice new fans to buy), which just by looking at it takes us back over twenty years, to the gloomy nineties (in Finland, they were certainly gloomy and not just because of the latitude).
The first thing to say about the debut album is that the vocals are handled by the guitarist and main composer, Miika Tenkula, who delivers a great growl that stands up to that of much more acclaimed screamers, while Taneli Jarva still only plays the bass here. Completing the lineup are Sami Lopakka on rhythm guitar and Vesa Ranta on drums.
Regarding the band's style, it can be said that it isn't precisely the classic Finnish style, characteristic of bands like Abhorrence, Convulse, and Demigod as has been stated in other reviews, in fact, despite the melody taste hailing from that school, it's not as sick and hypnotic as those typical of the previously mentioned bands. The difference lies in the fact that Sentenced had a superior technical approach and didn't aim for a chaotic sound, and it's no coincidence that their style was influenced by American death metal, particularly the Death of the "Leprosy" era. However, strong doom influences remain, as can be seen from the initial "When the Moment of Death Arrives," which can be taken as the symbolic song of the album, where mid-tempos dominate, supported by long stretches of double bass. Nonetheless, there are moments where the band puts the pedal to the metal, like in "Beyond the Distant Valleys," whose main riff is truly adrenaline-pumping, injecting some variety into an album that, with nine songs averaging five or six minutes each, might seem too monolithic, but instead, in this way, perfectly conveys the sensation of powerlessness and resignation in the face of the decay and death described in the lyrics. So, no dismemberments and muddy marshes for Sentenced, who already tackle the themes for which they are known during the period with Ville Laihiala on vocals, also known as the flashy version of James Hetfield.
A great debut, then, which launches the band's name among those that matter and kicks off a career dedicated, at least initially, to evolution. In fact, to shake off the "Finnish Death" label, they will change the game already with the subsequent masterpiece "North From Here".
Tracklist and Lyrics
03 Disengagement (05:17)
Darkness fills the life
Covers the tired mind
like the darkest damnation
anxiety, oppression
a wounded soul
manages to escape
from exhausted body,
from the bleeding prison
disengagement, dark visions,
forgotten personality
feeling of loss
nocturnal suffocation
tears like blood
stench of decayed
alone...
without a body
life...
is turned to hell
living in emptiness
torture of the timeless
into the black pieces
of total chaos and sorrow
No blessing
no chances to survive
leads the way
to infernal death
disengagement, dark visions
forgotten personalities
04 Rotting Ways to Misery (05:50)
Into the life after death
where all is said and done
where sanity is forgotten
where humanity is gone
Into the abyss I fall
Arising Evil is all I see
I hear a blasphemic call
the Touch of Death is all I feel
Rotting Ways to Misery
the earth is burning under my feet
"Sacrifice your soul for me
Against our common enemy... god"
Behind the depths of dying
He is whipping my skin
This is the End... of liberty
I am in the fires of evilness
Hell's gates were open for me
they were my destiny
anyone can be chosen
to be His slave
Rotting Ways to Misery
are the chosen one's infernal destiny
05 The Truth (06:23)
At the primitive times
when the earth was born
Generations came and went
lived in ignorance
Somewhere in the Darkness of Time
lies open the ultimate fate of life
0132 ("Mullan rakoseen vaivun")
No one can show us the right way
is this enigmatic destiny
This way is going where we are coming from
The Time has come...
06 Suffocated Beginning of Life (06:06)
Your senseless theories
are rising once again
Causing pain within my mind
- I'm losing the control
But in the kingdom to come
Behind the seven seas...
Beyond the distant valleys...
It's me who decides!!!
Your flaming thoughts...
...are tearing my soul apart!
I'm harvesting...
...the sow of your curse again!
You've destined me to suffer...
...as you were the master!
You've taken my inner self...
Confusion will rule till I die!!!
08 Under the Suffer (05:18)
First came the wind, dark clouds and the storm Then came the snow which covered the ground white We saw them descending from clouds from the Bloodred Sky We just stood there and watched as they came, saw and conquered This beautiful sight made us blind with joy we welcomed the intruder as immigrants for their dominion like an epidemic Virus that spread over our homes It came like a cold wind and took away everything In the ruins we stood with the living ones We saw them raping our women and killing our children
09 Descending Curtain of Death (05:49)
Death - Awaking from a dream
what we also call life
Life is not real - only Death is
When the Curtain has descended
The Nightmare is OVER!
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