Sentenced
The Funeral Album

THE REVIEW

Hello DeRecensioni readers, your kissarmy returns with a record from a group that, in our opinion, is spectacular!!!!

2005: Sentenced decided to leave the music scene, but before doing so, the legendary Ville Laihiala (the band's vocalist) gives us this album…
And here it is, the gloomy, or rather spectral "The Funeral Album" from the title alone. As soon as I listen, I hear the "very raw" (it's really the case to say it) bass of Sami Kukkohvi starting to play a series of notes and then subsequently the guitars and drums: it's the beginning of the darkest funeral of 2005.

The first song is actually "May Today Become the Day", and it carries an impressive charge! Sentenced want to leave by leaving a deep wound in Finnish metal, and so far, they're succeeding! The second song is "Ever-Frost", the beginning appears calm, but beneath its tranquil limbs lies a hard rock spirit increasingly leaning towards metal. The distorted guitars of the five Finns make the songs heavier than they seem, and listening is truly enjoyable.

The third track leaves us a bit bitter because it's a little too slow, at least in my opinion, it should have been a bit more incisive and aggressive. Nonetheless, "We Are But Falling Leaves" is a deep and gloomy song. "Her Last Five Minutes" is truly beautiful, here essentially death becomes more and more incisive, you can even grasp it from the meaning of the title. You either love or hate Sentenced, and it is with "Where Waters Fall Frozen" that you can understand how metal the Finnish quintet is. You can say that the fifth song is one of fifty-three seconds where the group's black metal spirit appears, the song in my opinion is a black hint since the riffs are fast and incessant and Vesa Ranta's drums beat relentlessly "shattering" the drumkit.

The sixth song is "Despair-Ridden Hearts", the intro is somewhat enigmatic and indeed there is only an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar without any distortion, and a harmonica. Nonetheless, the song proves to be beautiful, measured, and with a precise rhythm. The classic technical aspects of Sentenced are not lacking in this record, indeed the five make every effort to add more. "Vengeance Is Mine" is the seventh track of this funeralesque album, and precisely in the second most brutal track of the album, we find death and revenge as themes. The song is truly chilling and beautiful. The eighth song is the only bad one on this album; it almost seems like Sentenced wanted to take back all the good things they did on this album.

I'm speaking too soon because "Lower The Flags" is a beautiful and in some ways progressive song. The piano at the beginning makes the song darker than it already was. "Consider Us Dead" is the following track and I must say, really well done, executed without blemishes, the only thing I can say is that the songs on this album have been truly beautiful so far, no defects from the five Finns. "Drain Me" is also solid, beautiful, with powerful riffs, not very heavy, and that's what differentiates it from the others. "Karu" is a song of just classical guitar that could be defined as useless, but with this track, Sentenced wanted to reflect on their career as musicians, and they say this in an interview given to a music magazine. This funeralesque but beautiful album closes with "End Of The Road" where the Finns say goodbye to their musical career forever.

Sentenced no longer exist but their songs, especially from this album, will remain marked in the history of heavy metal.

Greetings from Kissarmy