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Nocturnal Hall - Pathways To Catharsis: 7/10 Points |
 What the Bavarians presents us is anything but DEAD EMOTIONS.
You better can take the album title Pathways To Catharsis literally: shaking off the dead emotions on your way to soul purification. And so difficult the withered emotions are, just as different Pathways To Catharsis is. It seems like DEAD EMOTIONS, who are in business since 1996, zeroed in on their own style of music. Releasing their first long player Gates To The Unseen as a dark Death Metal album; a technical, harder and faster The Genesis Behind followed in 2003. At present, the third release is a blend of the previous records. Influenced by Bolt Thrower, the six minutes opener Demon Seed continuously turns to an atmospheric and bleakly touched Death Metal track, which finds its highlight in a choral singing. On the other hand Point Of No Return distinguishes itself by the Black Metal coloration. And this not only because of the six-string-melodies, but also the vocals is a primary part again. Besides the typical deep Death Metal tones by vocalist Mosh, the Black Metal influenced screams by Mexx (lead guitar) come around for the first time. The vocals generally left its mark on Pathways To Catharsis. The steady interspersed interplay of sharp screams and growls brings the morbid and diabolic atmosphere as it can be heard in Weed For The Weak. The specially engaged and wasting few deployed male choir isn’t the straw that broke the camel’s back, however the metalhead won’t miss it ;-) But the musical accomplishment shouldn’t be narrowed by this. The tracks feature a good symbiosis of well chosen melodies, slow drumming rising up to impulsive parts till isolated blast parts and uninterrupted played crusher like Borderline or Direction Pain. These songs are then dominated by aggressiveness. It would be great if a clearer production also come to the fore. Coming up like a hymn At The End Of Time form a worthy finish of a good and solid Death Metal album whose strength definitely can be found in the symbiosis of aggressiveness, atmosphere and vocals.
As a special goodie DEAD EMOTIONS has included two videos onto this release. First one is the clip to There Is No Dawn and second one Disdained is shown live. Enjoy!
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