Fall Of The Leafe

Volvere (Rage Of Achilles/The End)
by Martin Popoff

Evolving evermore, these enigmatic Finns have created a fourth album that has completely found the band transformed into a blasting rock act somewhere amidst commercial Paradise Lost, mid-paced commercial Metallica, Sentenced, and Dream Theater at that band’s chugging best. Foremost magnetic is the multi-dimensional vocal prowess of Tuomas Tuominen, who sings passionately between a clean (almost Gothic new wave) vocal and a rock-ish roar, over songs that still retain a shade of the band’s folk past, but are usually housed in a frame made of heavy metal of the utmost hi-fidelity. It’s almost like Finntroll on an Evergrey kick, shades of Katatonia also gussying up the arrangements and rhythms. And making it all work is blindingly high-quality production, the snappy yet powerful drums providing an exquisite bed for the band’s eccentric and progressive pursuits. Weird man… I even hear Midnight Oil, New Model Army, and Therapy? in here, yet the sum total of the thing is a groovy, grinding, riff-stuffed record of gloomy stadium rock.
(331 Rio Grande #58 SLC, UT 84101)