Undeceived

Extol was the first Christian band that I ever actively listened too. Since then I have discovered loads of other underground Christian bands. Typical Christian music never interested me; it seemed too “light” to me. I found out about Extol on Amazon.com, and I was surprised to see that there were Christian metal bands.

Musically, they resemble melodic death metal, not black metal which others have claimed Extol to be. Black metal generally isn’t this melodic. Anyways, Undeceived is a fine piece of music with a few shortcomings. It starts out pretty fast with Inferno, but then the songs stops and violins start playing. Nice touch! I’m always a sucker for well placed violins. Hearing the violins play over the distorted guitars sounds really really cool, even though its only for a brief moment. The band’s drummer, David Husvik, is quite good and knows his drum kit well. None of the drumming get boring or repetitive.

The band is well talented in the music department, however the vocalist is kind of, well, different. He definitely has a unique voice, it just sounds a bit more grating than it should. I’m not saying they should ditch the harsh vocals at all; I just think it could use some work. Looking past that though, there are plenty of good tracks here. The title track has more violins in the intro and a nice solo at the end. Meadows of Silence is a short acoustic track that is relaxing to listen to in the middle of heavier music. Ember marks the first track on the album where guitarist Ole Borud sings clean vocals. He is a damn good singer; apparently, he also sung in a group that performed children’s songs. I never would have expected to see someone like that in a band like this! Renewal happens to be my favorite on Undeceived. Its an uplifting song and always puts my in a better mood.

You really can’t go wrong with any of the songs here. It’s a strong album worth a listen to fans of melodic death metal.

Highs: Nice use of violins; Overall powerful sound; Nice mix of vocal styles

Lows: Not enough violins, unfortunately; Needs better vocals

Final Comment: Decent melo-death, but needs better death vox