By: Anders

Posted: Jun 5, 2006

I was kinda disappointed with this Swedish "allstar" band's first album "Yersinia Pestis". A band consisting of members from Satariel, Unmoored, Incapacity, Angel Blake and Scar Symmetry should have been able to do it better, was my first thought. Though time has passed and the band is now ready with their second effort "Warnaments". Again a concept album, this time based on First World War battles, most of the album deals with the battle of Jutland, while the last couple of songs deal with a battle outside the British coastline.

The first thing that springs to mind, is that the music is more flowing and works better as a wholesome, both during the single tracks and during the whole record. The band does also seem like they have worked better together to create the right atmosphere and fitting music, and not a bunch of individual efforts, a thing I thought the debut album had a scent of. We are getting presented all the best of older melodic Swedish death metal, sometimes scented with a good deal of black metal coldness and atmosphere, really bleak and dark. At other times the riffing is really thrashy and gripping. The compositions do as such not deliver anything new, though the songs do possess the great deal of passion, which makes the music come alive, one of the things the music on the debut album lacked. It is hard not to get gripped by the music on "Warnaments", the music is well played and has energy, and the atmospheres it invokes, fits the lyrical theme very well, and the 2 parts together, makes it come even more alive.

The production of "Warnaments" are pretty good as well, it fits the melodic part of the music, really good, and highlights the great melodic guitar leads and details. It has a cold feel, which makes the sinister war theme alive and it captures the shifts in the atmosphere good as well. At times the music brings one back to the mid-90ties, and the production does the same at times, a nice feature.

Torchbearer seems like a band growing with each release, and with that in mind, we will have some great albums waiting for us in the future. "Warnaments" is more than a decent melodic death metal album with influences from both thrash and black metal, together with a good deal of dark and epic atmospheres. A great album to listen to, while reading the lyrics for the songs, which lifts the experience, but the music alone does also work.

Rating: 7½/10

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