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Rating: Did I buy an HIM CD? ...mmmm... no, it says Sentenced, even on the CD it says Sentenced... The singer isn't hot, so they aren't HIM.
But joking aside, we have to say that Sentenced, from the glorious death/black beginnings of North From Here and from that masterpiece Amok, especially due to Tanel Jarva's vocal performances, have made many changes.
If you can't stand HIM and their "love metal" (brrrrrr... gives me chills just to write it) go read something else because this CD is not for you.
Saccharine melodies that wouldn't look out of place on MTV then? Yes, but with some exceptions. For starters, kudos to the beautiful limited edition digipack/cardboard packaging that could at least add a bit of elegance to the row of CDs you have on your nightstand, even though it has no practical role since you'll listen to it maybe five times.
If in previous albums, without the need to bring up Amok but referring only to the previous Ville Laihiala (vocals) era ones, namely Frozen and Crimson, the feeling was certainly dark-oriented with dark, depressing melodies and whatever else you might expect from a band that is one of the pillars of gothic made in Finland, here everything is more slick, even the most innovative and brilliant ideas are smothered by such a quantity of cheesy and sugary rock/gothic that surely won't displease many young enthusiasts of this genre.
The exceptions mainly concern a handful of songs that slightly deviate from the album's general trend: Excuse While I'm Killing Myself, which basically has the task of waking us from the coma we will have sunk into after the first five tracks, The Luxury Of A Grave, which has more or less the purpose of the aforementioned one, only with the difference that it is even more aggressive, and it must be because if we have made it in one go to the end of the CD, we deserve a nice reward.
The last gem is You Are The One, which despite being little more than a cheesy rock/gothic ballad, manages to engage, especially in the beautiful chorus where finally the guitars explode with a vitality and freshness that we dream of throughout the rest of the CD.
"A coffin will be way too nice, a see-through plastic bag will do just fine" (The Luxury of a Grave) but we are not talking about a corpse, we are talking about how to hide the CD ;)
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
04 Neverlasting (03:35)
Carpe diem...
Seize the day before your life fades away.
Reach for the skies - for the distant sun
and keep on hiding from the gun.
No! You need to sell your soul
for it's great to lose control.
Can't you feel that growing desire
to go down with the blazing fire?
You need to burn and reach to the point of no return.
- Waste no time dreaming in vain!
You and I aren't built to last
- Go astray - the only way!
You and I will make it fast
- Burn the candle at both ends!
Let's take a ride before we fall
- Leave no room for happy endings!
and make it right for once and for all.
Something's twisted in your head
for you live as you were dead.
Therefore you must play with the gun
and be sure to have your fun.
Take my hand and I'll lead you astray
for it's the only way.
Let's give in to the growing desire
and go down with the blazing fire.
We need to burn and reach the point of no return.
- Waste no time dreaming in vain!
You and I aren't built to last.
- Go astray - the only way!
You and I will make it fast
- Burn the candle at both ends!
Let's take a ride before we fall.
- Leave no room for happy endings!
And make it right for once and for all.
05 Aika multaa muistot (Everything Is Nothing) (04:33)
Everything is nothing to me, I couldn't care less
A stern cold man is what I am, hard, relentless
And thought I might have strayed the path I wouldn't change a thing
I've hated life to the fullest yet with longing deep within
For my name is sorrow and I'm a friend of misery
I deprived myself of love for eternal agony
And I don't even dare to try - I know I can only lose
Between this life I live and nothing I have to choose
Take me home...
...to the one I belong
Heyyy!!
I'll see you all go down and witness your demise
I'll be the last to close, the last to close my eyes
And forgive me nothing for I truly meant it all
- what I've said, what I've done
06 Excuse Me While I Kill Myself (03:48)
"How do you do? Have yourselves a pleasant afternoon!"
Well, fuck you, too!
"Good night" is the one I choose for you!
- I'll kill myself:
I'll blow my brains onto the wall!
- See you in Hell,
I will not take this anymore!
Now, this is where it ends,
this is where I will draw the line
So, 'scuse me while I end my life.
I will pull this through
Not having a reason is no excuse
What the Hell do you suppose I have left to lose?
- I'll kill myself:
I'll blow my brains onto the wall!
- See you in Hell,
I will not take this anymore!
Now, this is where it ends,
this is where I will draw the line
So, 'scuse me while I end my life.
[instrumental]
- I'll kill myself:
I'll blow my brains onto the wall!
- See you in Hell,
I will not take this anymore!
This is where it ends: I'll put a bullet in my head
And yes, drop dead!
This is where it ends, this is where I will draw the line:
- Excuse me while
I Kill myself.
07 Blood & Tears (04:15)
What is it that we're struggling for?
I don't quite see it anymore.
Life kicks us in the teeth
yet something makes us crawl back for more.
Blood and tears upon the altar of our lives we shed.
Blood and tears until the sweet release we share in death.
Hours like days, weeks like years
Decades of tears
yet somehow..
We'll lose the things we've fighted for
Each rise is followed by a fall
We'll lose the ones we love, the ones we most adore
Yet go on.. we go on
Blood and tears upon the altar of our lives we shed.
Blood and tears until the sweet release we share in death.
Hours like days, weeks like years
Decades of tears
Yet somehow everything seems so worthwhile
for a moment
What is it that we're waiting for?
Looking forward to, preparing for?
Life kicks us in the teeth
Yet something makes us crawl back for more
Blood and tears upon the altar of our lives we shed.
Blood and tears until the sweet release we share in death.
Hours like days, weeks like years
Decades of tears
Yet somehow everything seems so worthwhile
for a moment
09 Guilt and Regret (03:44)
Guilt and Regret, they are my two inbred brothers
Guilt and Regret
O god how I hate them both from the bottom of my heart
Guilt and Regret and me wake up into a brand new day
Guilt and Regret lively
I am still dead tired - the night has been long and hard
My brothers they ask me:
"Do you recall anything from yester-night, no?"
They laugh at me and go:
"Nothing at all? Well, it must have been an evening of joy"
Guilt and Regret
O god how I hate them both from the bottom of my heart
Each morning like this they come, uninvited
Pale as ghosts, reeking of compost
Yet most I abhor their bloodshot eyes
My brothers they ask me:
"Do you recall anything from yester-night, no?"
They laugh at me and go:
"Nothing at all? Well, it must have been an evening of joy"
My brothers they tease me:
"Do you remember anything from yester-night, no?"
They laugh at me and go:
"O sure you do, we buried our little sister Hope"
Guilt and Regret and me - what a twisted family we are
Guilt and Regret
O god, how I hate you both from the bottom of my heart
11 No One There (06:14)
The axe, the bottle, and the rope
The feeling there really is no more hope
The thought of the great unknown
And facing it alone
The dark, the silent, and the cold
The feeling I have come to the end of my road
Yes these are the things I spend my remaining moments with
And the wind blows through my heart
Shivers me one last time
As I now reach out in the dark
No one there
Why did it have to be so hard
For us to live our lives
Again I reach out in the dark in despair
The desperation and the snow
The feeling of finally coming back home
The melancholy and the hole in the soil so hard and cold
And the wind blows through my heart
Shivers me one last time
As I now reach out in the dark
No one there
Your love for me, my love for you
Things we somehow managed to lose
Now there's only the ruthless wind
To blow right through
If freezes my heart, my desperate heart
If freezes my heart, my desperate heart
If freezes my heart, my desperate heart
To think we both will die alone
And the wind blows through my heart
Shivers me one last time
As I now reach out in the dark
No one there
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Other reviews
By Megadave#1
"Cross My Heart and Hope to Die is one of the most beautiful tracks on the album, with a well-crafted intertwining of arpeggios, an explosive chorus, and a chilling final solo."
"This album will not please everyone... But trust me... it is a masterpiece!!"
By fenriz87
The album in question is a great record.
A journey into the 'Cold White Light' is highly recommended, truly a great soundtrack during a winter day with some worries drifting away and some too many memories advancing menacingly...
