Crítica a Álbum :: Pendact - Days of War (2013)
2013-09-26 11:05:52 | Hugo Miguel Delgado
Days of War is the debut album by Pendact, a French melodic death metal band dated from 2006. The line-up that recorded the album has been stable since 2010 and consists of Jonathan "Jukka" Rossetto on vocals and lead guitar, Jonathan "John Reaper" Andreu on the rhythm guitar and backing vocals, Valerian "Valer" Fourmy on bass and backing vocals and Antoine Vialatte on drums. Digging a little further I also found there's a keyboard player on the band, named Benn Hexaspectrum but I can't find any reference to him on this album, so I'm not sure if the keyboards were played by him, someone else or programmed.
The album start with an intro that shows some good ideas up until the middle, when it somehow gets lost within itself. Fortunately Lies And Hypocrisy enters at full throttle, with a Children of Bodom-like melody that immediately grabs our attention. The song even builds up like if it was part of Alexi Laiho's portfolio, except for the evident differences in terms of production and technical skills, particularly during the keyboard+guitar solos. The following song Betrayal introduces us to a more guitar-based song, with the keyboards appearing only in certain parts of the song and with a pop/electronic-influenced melody. The album continues for 6 more songs that continue along these same lines, in what could be described as a few poor man's Children of Bodom songs combined with some unexpected keyboards that sometimes even resemble computer-game-like melodies, like in Pendact or Last Judgement. I'd say the album's best track would have to be Lies And Hypocrisy, in spite of its lack of originality, as most of the remaining tracks either include a lot of dull unimaginative moments or original but a little bit too odd keyboards.
The issue that bothers me most with Days of War is that it's constantly shoving up our ears the technical limitations of the band members, particularly the lead guitar and synths. Let's face it, if you're making songs that resemble the likes of Children of Bodom or Kalmah, every listener will immediately expect flaming over-the-top duels between guitars and keyboards, played way beyond the speed limit, and they'll settle for nothing less. So, if instead they are served a few basic arpeggios and hammer-ons played at a slow pace, people will be letdown by the whole anti-climax. As for the remaining performances, they're simple but manage to fulfill the minimum requirements. A final remark to Jukka's singing style: his performance didn't excite me too much but was enough to get the job done, but sometimes his singing reminded me of Gerre from Tankard, which wouldn't be a bad thing if it didn't sound completely out of place, with the ringtone-like keyboards and melodic guitars playing along. Finally, the production could have been way better in more than a few aspects. For once, the guitar sound, particularly during solos, sounds too plastic-like and dull. Also during solos, some guitar or keyboard parts suddenly go silent in an odd manner. Even if it was meant as some sort of a transition, it should have been made in a way that made it sound more natural. Some synth sounds were unevenly leveled making it an adittional source of distraction to the whole listening experience.
Summing things up, this is not an awful album but they've placed themselves in a league that's filled with some world-class powerhouses that they just won't be able to compete with at the moment, so they'll need to work a lot on their individual skills and add some flamboyance to their playing and overall compositions while seeking some strong producer that's not only able to do his job right but also to help setting them in the right track. As for Days of War, it'll get 45 / 100.
Rating: 45%
The album start with an intro that shows some good ideas up until the middle, when it somehow gets lost within itself. Fortunately Lies And Hypocrisy enters at full throttle, with a Children of Bodom-like melody that immediately grabs our attention. The song even builds up like if it was part of Alexi Laiho's portfolio, except for the evident differences in terms of production and technical skills, particularly during the keyboard+guitar solos. The following song Betrayal introduces us to a more guitar-based song, with the keyboards appearing only in certain parts of the song and with a pop/electronic-influenced melody. The album continues for 6 more songs that continue along these same lines, in what could be described as a few poor man's Children of Bodom songs combined with some unexpected keyboards that sometimes even resemble computer-game-like melodies, like in Pendact or Last Judgement. I'd say the album's best track would have to be Lies And Hypocrisy, in spite of its lack of originality, as most of the remaining tracks either include a lot of dull unimaginative moments or original but a little bit too odd keyboards.
The issue that bothers me most with Days of War is that it's constantly shoving up our ears the technical limitations of the band members, particularly the lead guitar and synths. Let's face it, if you're making songs that resemble the likes of Children of Bodom or Kalmah, every listener will immediately expect flaming over-the-top duels between guitars and keyboards, played way beyond the speed limit, and they'll settle for nothing less. So, if instead they are served a few basic arpeggios and hammer-ons played at a slow pace, people will be letdown by the whole anti-climax. As for the remaining performances, they're simple but manage to fulfill the minimum requirements. A final remark to Jukka's singing style: his performance didn't excite me too much but was enough to get the job done, but sometimes his singing reminded me of Gerre from Tankard, which wouldn't be a bad thing if it didn't sound completely out of place, with the ringtone-like keyboards and melodic guitars playing along. Finally, the production could have been way better in more than a few aspects. For once, the guitar sound, particularly during solos, sounds too plastic-like and dull. Also during solos, some guitar or keyboard parts suddenly go silent in an odd manner. Even if it was meant as some sort of a transition, it should have been made in a way that made it sound more natural. Some synth sounds were unevenly leveled making it an adittional source of distraction to the whole listening experience.
Summing things up, this is not an awful album but they've placed themselves in a league that's filled with some world-class powerhouses that they just won't be able to compete with at the moment, so they'll need to work a lot on their individual skills and add some flamboyance to their playing and overall compositions while seeking some strong producer that's not only able to do his job right but also to help setting them in the right track. As for Days of War, it'll get 45 / 100.
Rating: 45%
