Dead of Night

Basically a glorified demo tape, Dead of Night presents us with this eponymous act in striking manner, although the background behind the sequence of events is murky. Since Dead of Night had been together for some time beforehand, this seems sort of slapped together and very last minute, likely relegating itself to obscurity since it never received a proper release. Till I'm Dead at All really impressed me, but even its thin, reedy sonic palate trumps all over Dead of Night, as this would certainly never pass as an acceptable-sounding full length given the style and the time of release. By 2005, The Children of Bodom clones were hitting critical mass, and to be frank this band sounds more like a straight tribute act as opposed to a heavily influence clone. Nearly all of the tropes were are now familiar with are present and accounted for, sans most of the competence of the keyboardist. Higher-register rhythms, technically-inclined leads and an overall blitzing cadence define the primary approach on the album, and through these six songs one can observe most of the potential that was eventually realized on Dead of Night.

That said, Dead of Night clearly lacks most of Children of Bodom's raw songwriting chops, instead more apt to divert to rote displays of meandering technicality and simply stitching sections together with little thought of tension and release. Take "Face of Glass" for example, which is riddled with technical flourishes that do contribute very little to the final product, and awkward transitions abound. Spacious powerchords set a malleable backdrop for which the leads work their magic, but the preclusion of structured soloing sort of kneecaps much of the affair. Songs lose steam and eventually peter out instead of coming to a head. Some attempts are made at avoiding this, and the guitarists do have some solid chops when it comes to the tapping sections like on the title (and eponymous) number. These sections are clinically technical to the point of making only marginal impact in the grand scheme of the record.

Sonically it is a mess, sounding washed out and far too rhythm-heavy given the nature of the music. Leads are buried and struggle to keep their collective head above water. There are some nice speed metal moments on "Sentenced to Death" and strong Hatebreeder-esque vibes abound. In fact that is the Children of Bodom album that bears the most similarities to Dead of Night's material. The blackened rasper of a vocalist is decidedly less charismatic than Laiho, but it isn't difficult to look past. At the end of the day, I can't look at Dead of Night as a full-length, and given the refinement much of this material went under over the next three years, I suppose that it served its purpose. I don't even know if physical copies ever existed, but it shouldn't be too hard tracking the songs down. I say just stuck with Till I'm Dead at All anyway.