Night of the Black Wyvern

A couple of months ago I was searching the internet for metal websites and I came across one with a link to about 20 or so bands that I had never heard of. I looked through the descriptions of each and stopped when I came to a band called 'Utopia Banished'. They were described as a being a hard hitting melodic-death metal band from New York with influences such as In Flames and Death. Naturally, this got me interested so I decided to look into them further. After browsing their site I came across three mp3's, downloaded them, and proceeded to be blown away.

This was some of the most inovative melodic death I had heard in some time. The riffing wasn't and thick and heavy as some of the melodic bands I had been listening too. The guitars had a feel reminiscent of Children of Bodom with a much darker edge to them. The drumming was phenomenal. The leads were great and the overall package (i.e. the song itself) was extremely well put together and pleasant to the ear.

I immediately scraped together 10 bucks (12 after s&h) and purchased their cd, "Night of the Black Wyvern", which apparently was independently produced. This was another factor that astounded me. The production of this album was very high quality, a rarity for a debut album produced by a band so young independent of a label.

When the cd finally arrived in the mail I put it my cd player and began to listen to not only of the best debut metal albums I've ever heard but simply one of the best metal albums ever. The musicianship on this album was excellent Unlike bands like Children of Bodom, keyboards are used much more sparingly and they don't have a synthesized sound to them. The melodies have a much darker tone to them and you can definently hear the old school death influences.

I really felt like this album was something groundbreaking for the melodic death scene. Lately I've been listening to a bunch of bands who all sound very similar to the so-called, "Bodom sound" which, although I do enjoy very much, can get old, as anything does, over time. It seems that Utopia Banished have really opened a door here with their debut album. The only reason I didn't give this album a perfect score (or at least a little closer to it) was because I'm hoping these guys continue to surprise me and I want to have somewhere to go.

Some of the key tracks off of the album would have to be, The Plague (The song that hooked me), Night of the Black Wyvern (Title Track), and Foreshadowing the Endless Quest (Might be the best instrumental I've ever heard).