Poisonblack - Of Rust and Bones

Title: Of Rust and Bones
Artist: Poisonblack
Genre: Gothic Metal
Release Date: 19th March 2010 (Germany) / 22nd March 2010 (Europe)
Label: Century Media



Album Review

Finish gothic metal outfit POISONBLACK was founded at the end of 2000 by Ville Laihiala, vocalist of the legendary masters of melancholy SENTENCED, unfortunately disbanded by now. Originally, Ville intended just to write songs and play the guitar but soon after the release of the first album ‘Escapexstacy’, singer Juha-Pekka Leppäluoto left the formation for his own project CHARON and Laihiala had to take his place. POISONBLACK shared the stage with such bands as LACUNA COIL, MOONSPELL or DARK TRANQUILLITY and at present the musicians recorded four studio albums including the brand-new one, entitled ‘Of Rust and Bones’.

On this CD, there is everything: dynamic, powerful tracks with heavy riffs and rich drums and smooth, gloomy ballads. Starting with the very first song ‘My Sun Shines Black’, excellent vocals and interesting melody take a listener into a wonderful journey through the world of great music so it feels like the sun really starts shining black and some fanciful designs sweep past you while the darkness takes shape and evanescent images are getting much clearer. Impressive, sometimes violent ‘Leech’ continues to develop this tendency and arouses a number of different feelings, from loneliness to anger. The guitar solo takes the strain off but shortly after the bundle of emotions falls upon a listener again. The acoustic beginning of ‘My World’ petrifies you and then you are totally captivated by the breathtaking sounds. Melancholy, bitter disillusionment and at the same time somewhat inner tranquillity blend in one song which seemed to be penetrated with the idea of despair, doom and spite as almost all the other tracks on the album.

The title of the next composition speaks for itself: emptiness and misery run into each other and the music manages to intrigue you so it’s impossible to stop listening but the song ends and then there comes heartfelt, touching ‘Invisible’ which gives an opportunity to mourn and to think about your life, when tuneful walls shut you off from the reality for a while. Vigorous guitars don’t let a listener forget that it’s gothic metal in all its glory. Yet the other song ruins the whole melancholic atmosphere and actually stands out of the rest of the material for its dreadful rhythm and the aggression that was feebly marked on the previous tracks is gaining strength now. ‘Dawn the Drain’ and ‘Alone’ are, maybe, the most beautiful compositions on the CD with their slow measured rhythm and striking lyrics. One more thing which pleases me on the album is the instrumental part of ‘The Last Song’, so the whole track is perfect to finish the album.

In general, ‘Of Rust and Bones’ sounds rather familiar and it feels like you know all the material presented on it but when you are listening to this POISONBLACK’s work new facets of musical expressiveness begin to open up before you. Each song is unique yet it may not be noticed at first so you need to listen to the album several times to discover the interesting stuff it contains.


Tracklist

01. My Sun Shines Black – 4:50
02. Leech – 3:48
03. My World – 3:57
04. Buried Alive – 4:40
05. Invisible – 8:07
06. Casket Case – 3:44
07. Down the Drain – 8:03
08. Alone – 4:43
09. The Last Song – 7:33


Line-up

Ville Laihiala - Vocals, Lead Guitar
Tarmo Kanerva - Drums
Marco Sneck - Keyboards
Antti Remes - Bass
Janne Markus - Guitar


Website

http://www.poisonblack.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/officialpoisonblack


Cover Picture




Rating

Music: 10
Sound: 10
Extras: -
Total: 10 / 10


{jos_sb_discuss:19}