Epilogue

In the late 90s and early 2000s, Finnish gothic metal was absolutely flourishing. For a while it was difficult to escape gothic metal in all its forms, and as far as I was concerned, it was a glorious moment in time.

These days we have bands like Delain, Epica and a plethora of female fronted Disney acts pulling in the kids, but fortunately things were not always thus. And while there are many pretenders and wannabes littering the annals of gothic metal, there was one band who simply rose to the top like cream.

To/Die/For once had a huge degree of success and were riding high on the romantic gothic rock trend. Charting in the Finnish top 15, licensed to Nuclear Blast, everything they touched back then turned to musical gold. Their second album, ‘Epilogue’ is a powerful example of the pure perfection that is possible in the gothic metal/rock/pop genre when the manifold ingredients combine together with that je ne sais quoi. While their debut album ‘All Eternity’ was a delicious slab of gothic melodicism, it didn’t quite have the tightness and confidence that their next three albums in particular would have, and it was really only once ‘Epilogue’ came out, followed by ‘Jaded’ and ‘IV’, that they would be (temporary) kings of the gothic north. (Alas, if you're new to the band I strongly advise you to avoid their last album 'Cvlt', because if you hear that catastrophe it's unlikely you'll want to subject yourself to the quality material that came before it in their glory days.)

Released in 2001, ‘Epilogue’ consists of 10 tracks of ultra-melodic, lightly dark, gothic anthems. The production, by drummer and visionary Tonmi Lillman (RIP), who also plays the keyboards and bass on this release, is clear and precise, yet there is a heft to the drums and the music as a whole that allows a degree of heaviness to shine through. Yes, it’s polished as hell, but there’s a swagger in the tunes; there's just a touch of attitude.

Essentially in the style of rock-era Sentenced, To/Die/For have several extra sheets of gloss and a faster pace in most tracks that raises the stakes. While keyboards abound and subtle electronic sounds tastefully punctuate the metal, this is essentially a guitar-led album, and the melodies here are to die for. There's just something about the way the Finns write guitar melodies - and here they've nailed it.

The vocals by Jape Peratalo, who would eventually carry the band (almost) alone after the other members were shed are simply phenomenal. His deep gothic croon is perfect for the upbeat music, and he simply dominates all of the To/Die/For albums up to and including their fifth release ‘Wounds Wide Open’. He was born for this role, and it will be his life’s legacy. Yes, his singing is part of the My Dying Bride/Moonspell/69 Eyes style of deep male crooning, and quite frankly Jape would have received a record deal just by singing happy birthday in that baritone style in 1998, but there's a reason it was so popular in this type of music. It fits perfectly.

The music, as stated, is grounded in melody. Think golden age In Flames, except taken to an even further extreme, with huge choruses, energised movement and a pop song sensibility. What allows To/Die/For to stand out from the crowd is the sheer professionalism of what’s going on here. The tastefully placed double-kicks, the keyboard touches, the guitar melodies – it all comes together with a compositional precision that is the x-factor missing in so many bands globally. It's all so damn tight. It's all so perfect.

The tracks here are also well sequenced and varied. The album flows beautifully. Launching with the energetic melodeath-like ‘Crimson Twins’, the album bursts out of the blocks, with a huge sound and the vampiric “Blood is what unites” chorus. 'Hollow Hearted' was released as a single and is a steady rocker with some excellent guest female vocals. ‘The Unknown’ is the hit song that would later yield two sequels by the band – and like many things, the original is the best. Album highlight is the slow and heavy anthem ‘In Solitude’, an absolutely stunning track with one of their greatest choruses. It's majestic. ‘Immortal Love’ is another upbeat and catchy song that will be in your head for days, while the denouement arrives in the form of the glorious ‘Garden of Stones’, a slow doomy track that almost funeral-marches to the end.

The album cover is a classic ice-cold blue, with a dark rose and a woman’s face that nails the sentiment, time period and genre. The attractive booklet with lyrics and band shot carries on the ice theme to perfection.

There is really nothing that you would ever describe as extreme here, and those who prefer their metal drenched in sweat and denim are guaranteed to find this album, and the rest of their discography, pretty painful listening. Sometimes I'm not in the mood, either. But if you have a penchant for bold gothic metal with all the romantic trappings, without being fang-in-mouth corny, this is your baby right here.

Well, well. This one is definitely "goth-metal", if an album cover/logo-font ever hinted at style before. So, upon pushing play and listening for a few moments, you will realize that it's a book that one can judge by it's cover. Also, they are from Finland. This regional fact does help solidify the notion that, once again, pre-judgements of what you're in for don't have to be dismissed. It's exactly the type of mid-tempo to upbeat (with the obligatory slow moments here and there, for good measure) goth rockin' metal one would expect. Does that mean that "Epilogue" is typical? Well...yes and no. There's a few things that keep it from falling into the modern Charon, Poisonblack, or even HIM well of romantic/sad metal.

For those who aren't familiar with said Finnish "goth-metal", let's just say that it's like doom, yet less slothy. While this style is very representative of honest-to-goodness metal, hard rock and even bouncy vibes adorn the mood of most of these Scandinavian mope-metallers. There's always solid rhythms, leads that almost vocalize the songs on their own, and layered keys. It's something I'd dare to call fun, that is- if you're a dark sort.

This is your beautifully keyboard-iced hard rock cake, yet the candles are a different color. While most Finns draw influence from The Cult and The Cure to round out their crunchy metal riffing; To/Die/For tend to lean in the direction of Tears For Fears and The Human League. And while I do not despise this form of melancholic rock, doing so does tend to shrink a band's balls just that much more. And now for the vocals...

I happen to like them. However, I will say that the vocalist's ways took quite a bit of getting used to before I could even stomach them. I mentioned Tears For Fears. Imagine that band's vocal tones, add a desire to sound much more down in the dumps than even that sappy group of 80s sensitive men, and top them off with some very real fragility. Being truly bummed does tend to make one's voice a bit warbly, sobby, slow... So, apparently this Jape guy is being authentic, as he sounds like all those things. The reason I dig 'em is purely out of the appreciation that it's something unorthodox on a very typical Finnish goth-metal album. They add a bit of humanity and imperfection that works for me, but it will not work for everybody. At times the man goes for a bit more of an aggressive tone, basically just stretching the sob out a bit further and raspier, and while it's awkward; it is a little unique as well.

Lyrically, we get treated to well done (but also typical), rhyming poetry about loss, loneliness, and a plethora of samey subjects. This does happen to be a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" area of tradition that doesn't suffer from any attempted new identity. This is largely due to the main factor here- being sad sucks, but hearing people rock about it doesn't.

It's always easy to think that "gothic metal" is a fusion between goth-rock and metal; but not this time, for To/Die/For is a unique band that sounds like "80's rock-pop with distorted guitars". However, the band will always be labeled as commercial gothic metal because of the similarities with bands like Sentenced, Charon, Entwine, and even HIM. So prepare yourself for catchy depressive songs, low ranged singing and plenty of palm-muted guitar riffs.

First thing you'll notice in the sound would be the awesome electro-synth work; this is a dominant element of the entire album. Since the beginning, 'Crimson Twins' as an opening track starts with ambient synth, setting a calm mood when suddenly the drums enter panned in a great way, showing the quality of the recording, which sounds blasting. The rest of the song is all about electro-synth and palm-muted guitar riffs, and so does most of the album.

'Frail Without You', in my opinion the best song of Epilogue, it starts with a mix of electro-synth, distorted guitars and classical orientated piano -good headbanging riff. The chorus here is an important part for the catchiness of the song, with the detail that there’s some vocal shift in the range, they switched between medium range and low -sounds quite catchy. There’s also a good “maidenish” twin guitar riff in the middle of the song.

'In Solitude', now, this is a song only for the sensitive and the depressed, it gives an ambience of being under the rain with a feeling of ending your life. 'In Solitude' and the acoustic 'Veiled' are the most depressive songs I’ve ever heard from this band, all about melody and feeling.

I must say that the album is not bad at all, this is an amazing commercial album, but it has some songs that are not as good as the others, such as the acoustic 'Veiled', and 'Hollow Heart', which also came out as a single and video.

I would add that this is one of the best albums of the band, it seems that their best albums are the first ones (All Eternity, Epilogue, Jaded), but What made those albums better than the rest? Let’s go to the lineup, I notice 2 important musicians that left the band after 'Jaded': Guitarist Joonas 'Jope' Koto and Drummer Tonmi Lillman, it may not look like a huge difference, but judging by the credits of 'Epilogue', Tonmi Lillman didn’t only play drums, he was also producer, and did bass, keyboards, violin arrangements, programming and backing vocals. And talking specifically about this album, I would point out that Marco Hietala (currently bassist and male singer of Nightwish) did some backing vocals. I definately recommend this album to fans of the genre.