MyGrain

Man is this impressive or what? While MyGrain is consistently better than any band with a name as ridiculous as theirs has any right to be, this easily dethrones Signs of Existence and is retroactively easily the band's one true magnum opus. While I dug Signs of Existence and especially Planetary Breathing for the immersing synth-driven atmosphere and profusion of hooks, there is a different dichotomy at work here on MyGrain. For one, this album boasts the grimiest, most punishing guitar tone the band has ever committed to disc. It sounds modern, yes, but MyGrain themselves exemplify everything great about the contemporary melodic death scene anyway.

The shift to Ylämäki on lead guitar has been the only lineup change of marked note during the band's entire decade of existence. As such, there is obviously a stylistic speed bump to navigate if you were a big proponent of the group's earlier albums featuring Matthew. To be honest, Ylämäki is a solid lead-smith and fits seamlessly as yet another cog in the complex mechanism that is MyGrain. It certainly helps that Resistor is still banging out his busy, warped rhythm patterns in the background. Very little here reaches the knuckle-twisting levels of technicality normally associated with much of the genre, but it doesn't necessarily need to either thanks to an enviably balanced attack on the whole.

Kojo's scaled back presence on the ivories worried me at first, but restraint yields some great (yet unexpected) returns in this case. Simply put, the less keyboards there are on the whole, the more bite and charge the passages that do feature them gain. This is hardly a novel concept, and while MyGrain still features more synths than most can stomach, there is a care and attentiveness to detail that traditionally comes at a premium. Her style and delivery draws many parallels to Brändström's performance on Fiction-era Dark Tranquillity. As melodically rich as Kojo's buzzing strings and flanged leads may get, they never devolve into the realm of self-parody through excess. The atmosphere is always multifarious and never becomes too bouncy or upbeat. There is certainly ample method to her madness, and it is this contrariety that helps the listener get more mileage out of MyGrain than any of the band's other albums.

Despite Manninen failing to impress me on Planetary Breathing, he is functional enough here. There is some seriously inventive cymbal work going on at times, like during the intro of "Xenomorphic." It certainly helps him that this album sounds meaty as fuck, but he makes up for many of his past follies here. Tuovinen doesn't use his glossy cleans as much as I would prefer, embodying the one area where MyGrain falls short of the earlier releases. His parched roars are potent on their own, but they can't hope to compare to his melodic crooning. Check out the clean refrain in "Xenomorphic," which elevates the entire ordeal to a stratospheric echelon that the band sadly fails to breach at any other point. To their credit, they certainly come close, especially on "Cataclysm Child" and "Trapped in an Hourglass." These are all among the band's most balanced, forward-thinking compositions to date.

"Eye of the Void" is a horse of another color altogether. It came off as slightly disjointed to these ears at first, but it really does feature many of the best isolated melodies and a truly enthralling chorus courtesy of the dude from Kiuas. To Tuovinen's credit, it is difficult to discern much of a difference between the two vocalists' clean tones, but it is coherently delivered all the same. The vocals on the chorus are ace, but it is Kojo's melodic ditty in the background that ties everything together. It is this balance and disposal of one dimensional vocal-driven aesthetics that truly make this such a pleasure to listen to.

It is that good, and only reinforces the shame that MyGrain is relatively unknown compared to many of their Finnish brethren. Even in a scene so over-saturated, this easily takes one of the top spots. From the soaring cleans to the clanging, omnipresent bass, MyGrain delivers.