Sentenced
The Funeral Album

THE REVIEW

Premise: if you didn't appreciate the previous "The Cold White Light," considering it too sappy and melodic, you can stop reading right now. "The Funeral Album" is indeed even more delicate and "smoothed" of any roughness (with a few brief exceptions).
This new release enjoys a production that brings the band - alas - closer to their fellow countrymen HIM (after all, the producer is the same). That said, the Sentenced, even on this album, demonstrate a class that HIM can only dream of.

It starts with May Today Become The Day, the most energetic song of the album: the chorus will instantly stick in your head, and you'll find it difficult to shake it off.
Ever-Frost is one of the best tracks, and it most closely resembles the style of The Cold White Light. We Are But Falling Leaves is probably the masterpiece of the album and shows perhaps the best quality of Sentenced: the ability to move you. The touching chorus inevitably leads us to reflect on the meaning of our existence. Her Last 5 Minutes is introduced by a delicate intro interrupted by a brief Candlemass-style riff, but it remains inferior to the previous three. And here’s the first unexpected surprise: Where Waters Fall Frozen, fifty-eight seconds of devastating death/black metal that recalls the band’s early days.
Despair-Ridden Hearts is another great piece introduced by clean guitar and a Springsteen-like harmonica, progressively growing in intensity. Vengeance Is Mine is another burst of energy where the band inserts some curious twists like a children’s choir and the sounds of a music box. A Long Way To Nowhere and Consider Us Dead do not match the quality of the first part of the album, and Lower The Flags sounds entirely like a song by HIM. Drain Me brings back some liveliness but doesn’t engage much.
Karu is a short acoustic track perhaps inspired by some traditional Finnish theme. End Of The Road (which vaguely recalls Tiamat's Prey) is the moving farewell of the band to the fans.

In conclusion, The Funeral Album is a good work, probably inferior to the previous, but surely of quality.