Bereavement

This is an inoffensive little bit of melodic death metal; generally very similar to Dark Tranquillity but with more of an American melodeath spin to it, like you would generally hear in later years combined with metalcore. A light dusting of keyboards and slightly higher than average vocals draw comparisons to black metal, but there's really nothing black about this: this is pure melodeath that wouldn't make an At The Gates fan bat an eye. It's not particularly special, but it's competent, catchy, and most importantly, short.

This has all the typical tropes of the genre: high, growly vocals, melodic riffs full of harmonizing leads, light keyboard backing at pivotal moments, and fairly conventional, fill-laden drumming, all through a screen of fairly clear and representative production. There's nothing remarkable about this music; it might occasionally be a bit more aggressive than most melodeath, like a bit over halfway through 'Anagoge', where there's a fairly menacing tremolo riff, but otherwise this is directly out of the Gothenburg camp. The fact that this is under sixteen minutes in length goes a long way to making this more tolerable than it otherwise would be; a full album of this would likely be too much, but an EP's worth is a nice little palette cleanser between more 'serious' works.

So if you like melodeath and manage to track this down, go for it; it's nothing special but it's competent and enjoyable for what it is. There's absolutely nothing offensive about this and it's probably cheap wherever you find it, so this is essentially a win all around despite its adherence to convention. Worth a look.