| Reviews for Imperanon's Stained |
| Noodle, Noodle, Noodle - 50% |
| Written by The_Wanderer
on June 16th, 2008
|
| I checked out this band because I am a huge fan of Wintersun (it has Teemu in it), besides being a pretty big melodeath fan in general. I didn’t expect Imperanon to be anywhere near the quality of Wintersun’s music (everyone knows it’s all Jari), but I did expect above average, tasteful, catchy, perhaps epic melodic death metal. The fact that “neoclassical” was listed in their genre raised my hopes. What I ended up getting was the first album ever to have noodley lead guitar that actually pissed me off. I listen to Yngwie, folks. This is far less tasteful. Once you’ve heard the opening track, you’ve heard them all. Noodle, noodle, noodle. It sounds like the lead guitarist is just practicing his scales over a very typical and mediocre Finnish melodeath rhythm section and cheesy synth. The bass is, of course, nothing to speak of. Neither are the drums. There are no particularly memorable riffs, or leads for that matter. All of the leads tend to be catchy at first, before they repeat a million times, and others simply sound like a bored shredder going up and down the minor scale. The vocals are extremely typical of Finnish melodeath as well. Not that I particularly hate Norther, but if you played this alongside them I may not be able to tell the difference. The only standout tracks are the ones with the guest vocalists, and even those aren’t that amazing. It’s really sad that this band has to rely on guests to make songs that are worth anything because they can’t do it themselves. Hollow Man was good at first, but there are too many choruses. The clean vox are good, but in the end all they did for me was differentiate this song from the rest of Stained, the song is not really anything particularly special. Neither is Shadowsoul. The female vocals make it unlike the rest of Stained, but not much better. It is still rather repetitive, and the girl’s voice is actually a bit annoying at times. It wasn’t painful for me to get through this album, but I probably won’t go back. I feel very indifferent towards it. Stay away from it unless you really like Norther-type Finnish melodeath. Don’t expect anything great. |
| Familiar and new at the same time. - 92% |
| Written by SRX
on July 17th, 2007
|
| Ever since Children of Bodom's rise to fame in recent times and their pioneering in the Power Metal with harsh vocals style, there has been quite a few bands who wish to continue this style in their own ways. Some have been complete clones while others have taken a strong influence but still has made their own music. Imperanon's focus on neoclassical makes them go against the grain but still try and be like Children of Bodom in some aspects. Their debut is a strong release as they put all out with their vision. The first thing you might notice as I mentioned, the huge Neoclassical pull in this album. While Bodom no doubt has their hand at the classical influences, there is something unique here. In Memories to Dust, the keyboardist gets his own bell pad section that instead is just under every other band member for atmosphere; there is complete focus on it. The first song one the album, Blade sounds like it is running up scales the entire song which reminds me of Malmsteen. The solos and bridges all have the distinct classic edge to them. The keyboardist himself is well heard. The instruments under his belt makes much of the songs varied and interesting. Synth Brass, Choir, String Chords, Bell Pad, Clean Piano, the works. Many are the same kind that the keyboardist of Children of Bodom but make no mistake, Imperanon uses them in their own way. The mix between pure atmospheric use, to a lead instrument is more varied in Imperanon's case. The guitar work is top notch and is quite the mix of melo death and power metal. Many are low note crunching riffs of many melodic death metal bands that are simplistically rhythm based and at the same time, you hear some fast picking and melodic fills. The power metal side gets stronger in this album as you hear many soaring melodies and a crazy amount of guitar licks just scattered around. This is very apparent in songs like Prisoner in Me, and my personal favorite, Rhythm of Pain. The guitar harmonization and deliberately slow but well crafted end solo hooks you in instantly. Speaking of solos, the solos are the general are good fast played power metal-ish type. Some are very memorable but some kinda just fall by the wayside in terms of remembrance. The vocal work is standard harsh vocals. Its a but uncharacteristic but it isn't irritating or poorly done. The guest vocals in the song Hollow Man and Shadowsouls is a nice touch that really jumps out at you. The drumming is a general power metal type deal with a nod to the extreme metal drumming. Like in much power metal, the snare and high hat are used in duo for a normal beat. But at the same time, many parts, the guy is going all over the place on the kit and pounding the double bass. This mix fills up the sound well, there is never a time where you feel underwhelmed by the drummer's performance. The bassist is somewhat audible and contributes in rhythm but doesn't really do much out of there. A solid album that has something new to say, and is catchy; there should be no reason why any power metal fan or anyone with an open mind for that matter, to not get this. I heard the samples of their new demo and was disappointed in their focus on general melodic death. It seems that this might be the only good offering by this band so I say try it out now or you might miss it forever. |
| Amazing! - 100% |
| Written by BlindedByFear
on March 10th, 2007
|
| I found out about Imperanon a few years back by looking for new bands to get into. While searching a website I found Blade and downloaded the sample. I was immediately hooked and ran out to buy Stained that week. Was I disappointed by it, HELL NO! Stained quickly rose to one of my favorite albums, and probably is still in the top 10. Now many people say they are too much like Children of Bodom, and I’m not saying there is nothing similar about the albums, but in my opinion, they aren’t as similar as people say. It seems like you can’t look at any melodic death metal cd without it being compared to COB. Stained has a lot of catchy songs to it and whenever I listen to a song, I immediately wanted to listen to the rest of the album, it’s that good. The album has a lot of great musicianship in it (the guitarist/vocalist had only been playing electric guitar for 3 years) and the rest of the band just does a great job of playing their instruments, especially for the level of difficulty of this album. The guest vocalists in Hollow Man and Shadowsouls makes the album more interesting, because not every song sounds exactly the same, which I have found that a lot of other melodic death metal bands have done, I can’t listen to the whole album because I get tired of it, whereas I never really get tired of Stained. It’s too bad that Imperanon changed their style. I think they could’ve made some really great songs. And I don’t see why people say they are SO much like Children of Bodom, because they really aren’t as similar as people say. Yes they use some of the same elements, but it’s a different style of musicianship, and that’s what sets them apart from some of the other bands now-a-days. Overall, if you like any type of melodic death metal, definitely pick up Stained, and don’t let the idea of everybody saying they are an exact clone of COB turn you away from them. You will not regret buying this cd. |
| I Hate Finland Sometimes - 51% |
| Written by SnowVixen
on June 18th, 2004
|
| I'll be honest. I heard someone praise this band and call them "power metal with brutal vocals", and felt an immediate need to acquire the album for the sole purpose of tearing into it. Yes, I was correct in my preemptive summation of "melodeath with annoying synths"... but only to an extent. Musically, this band is quite a bit catchier than some of their competition. Guitarwork sounds heavily inspired by (read: stolen from) Children of Bodom, Helloween and, occasionally, Billy Idol. The Helloween influence does seem to make this a tad more upbeat and "metal" than the majority, with the occasional almost soaring guitar lead. Yes, the generic solos abound, and as seems to always be the case with bands like these, are mirrored by synths. The synths, though not riding the pitch bender constantly, are still pretty annoying at times. The obviously triggered drums are another thing I take issue with. If you can't play the part, don't try. For the most part, the first half of the album was pretty much straightforward Bodom worship. I was unimpressed and about ready to disregard this band as being yet another crappy clone. The song "Hollow Man" broke the monotony of the album with both a much slower riff and clean vocals reminiscent of Axenstar. I found that this song was a pretty decent... and a needed moment of respite. A couple tracks later, the one titled "Shadowsouls", almost the entire song was done by some woman that sounds like she's putting forth no effort whatsoever, akin to Cruachan. The music had almost a folky power metal sound to it and sort of reminded me of Tuatha de Danann or Elvenking... and I genuinely enjoyed it. If the entire album was of the style exhibited in these two songs, I would order it, a pack of stickers and a shirt right now. It seriously kicks that much ass. Sadly, it went back to the Bodom fluffing after that. Is the album overall good? No, not really. Does it suck as bad as the rest of the garbage in the genre? No... it doesn't. The few moments that break the monotony and the glaring Helloween influence aren't quite enough to redeem this album, but they do hint at what this band's capable of if they can escape the Children of Bodom mold. |