The Final Chapter

Hypocrisy's mesh of melodic bearing and traditional death metal aggression makes for a heavier breed of melodic death. The Final Chapter thus became Hypocrisy's original swansong to give both genres a place on one album in a way that Abducted didn't. This collection of songs ranging from monstrously brutal to ballad-like expositions (all within the scope of Hypocrisy's sound) makes for another varied, spacey album full of extensively daunting emotions.

Abducted had its share of vocal styles, and The Final Chapter pursues that use on both ends. Peter's growls are parched and as low as they were during the death metal days. Whether with the harmonic and atmospheric tracks like "A Coming Race" and the title track or among rhythmically diverse blazers like "Inseminated Adoption" and "Adjusting The Sun", these growls are barbaric. Tägtgren's screams are used less this time around, but they are as sharp and spiteful in their delivery as ever. The cleans are also used less than the albums immediately before and after, but they aren't without the same airy, mellow qualities. Their use is typically restricted to evoke a mood of invigoration, and that's usually when melody and atmosphere are (more than not) relied upon. Don't expect the thunderous drum kit to be blasting away during moments like these.

The vocals match the rest of the music in ways unfitting for most melodic death. Tägtgren's shrieks, growls, and entranced cleans are complimented by cryptic, finely-produced, Abyss studio-certified melodic death. The amount of vociferous bass support that grumbles and adds meat to the blistering guitar tone is delicious. It's a noticeable boost from Abducted's clearer mastering. The riffs - doom-slow or primal-fast - make this one of the band's heavier and darker albums of their melodic death era. Something like "Shamateur" and its blend of harmonics and ruthlessness shows a band intending a one-way trip of intense playing for the last time. The guitar tone works well for chugging, which this album isn't without, but it's the beefy heaviness and lasting power that enables an passionate tone to subsist.

The baleful "A Coming Race," the supremely catchy "Adjusting The Sun," and the haunting finale are the choice cuts. The epic demeanor was shoved a little in favor or ferocity, but those tracks surmise Hypocrisy's mixed emotions at the time the best. The Final Chapter's morose presence in Hypocrisy's discography makes it that era's Virus of things. It happens to carry on the sound continued from Abducted while refining it with added death metal flavor. For the betterment of a proper career ending, something this dark and pensive wouldn't have fit the bill.