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Sentenced: The Funeral Album
 The final album from Finland's Sentenced, titled The Funeral Album basically because the boys are laying the band to rest and calling it a day, continues with the more melodic hard rock sounds of previous albums like Crimson and The Cold White Light. With the exception of the brief instrumental "Where Waters Fall Frozen", there's no evidence of the bands earlier death metal style on this one, as Sentenced serve up catchy metal that is highly melodic, much like 90's Metallica. Guitar heroes Miika Tenkula and Sami Lopakka deliver plenty of crunchy riffs and tasty solos (check out the tasty power chords and nimble wah-wah solos on the catchy rocker Despair-Ridden Hearts) and singer Ville Laihiala displays once again his husky, James Hetfield-influenced vocals that work perfectly well within these melodic songs.
These elements all seem to work well together on most of the songs here, especially on tunes like the driving "Consider Us Dead" , the somber, keyboard drenched "Lower the Flags", or the doomy closer "End of the Road", which is perhaps the perfect epitaph for the band. However, the album in general isn't overly heavy, and some of the tunes seem to follow the same pattern, giving an overall feeling of sameness after repeated spins. Still, The Funeral Album is a solid final release from a band that will forever have a place in both death metal and melodic metal history.
Track Listing
1. May Today Become the Day
2. Ever-Frost
3. We Are But Falling Leaves
4. Her Last 5 Minutes
5. Where Waters Fall Frozen
6. Despair-Ridden Hearts
7. Vengeance Is Mine
8. A Long Way To Nowhere
9. Consider Us Dead
10. Lower The Flags
11. Drain Me
12. Karu
13. End of the Road
Added: August 5th 2005
Reviewer: Pete Pardo
Score:  
Related Link: Sentenced Website
Hits: 3731
Language: english
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Sentenced: The Funeral Album
Posted by Ken Pierce, SoT Staff Writer on 2005-08-05 06:31:40
My Score:
Sentenced is dead and it is my task to bring you this solemn news. It seems that after 14 years the five members of this Finnish band have made the command decision and decided to end the bands existence. The Funeral Album, released on Century Media Records is the closest thing to a suicide note that investigators could find. As original fans will remember, Sentenced was known for blazing Death/Black Metal but several years ago switched gears and took on a more Traditional & Gothic mannerism to their performance and style. This release continues along those lines, and this is fine with me since it shows how diverse bands have proven themselves to be over time. Amorphis recently delivered a similar thing to their fans with Far From The Sun as the record was not what their normal fan base had expected either. The Funeral Album is full of tracks that signify the ending of ones life and while morose as a topic, most of these tracks are excellent. Very moody and dark and yet poignant more often than they are not. The titles use cryptic metaphors such as "We Are Falling Leaves", or "Lower The Flags" and "End Of The Road" just by reading them you kind of knows what the band is getting at.
Starting off with "May The Day Become The Day" the piece wastes no time in bringing you into the sad journey that is the Death of this band. This is such a rocking that you end up listening a couple of times in a row before you continue further. You then have tracks like "Her Last 5 Minutes" and in this there is a very Type-O-Negative feel to it at parts. Especially from their October Rust CD. Fans will know the sound when it comes on. There is one blazing metal track which is the instrumental "Where Waters Fall Frozen". It is the closest thing from the bands early days that fans will find on the piece. As this is an almost theme album, it is best listened to from beginning to end and that is how I recommend it. Musically it is very strong and stylish at the same time due to the consistency of its production. The band members we mourn on this release are Sami Kukkovhani, Miika Tenkula, Ville Laihiala, Sami Lopakka and Vesa Ranta. The band has said their will be no returning from this as they are moving on. A live DVD is said to be forthcoming from some of these final performances. The music truly stands strong enough to make a good concert piece so I look forward to that.
I have to say that I loved the CD for it crossed a little more into Hard Rock than remaining entirely in the Gothic aspect. While I hope that this is some Marketing scheme going on in the band and we are being misled, it is entirely probable that the time has come for them to end. The Funeral Album serves as a profound headstone to their 14 year career. May They Rest In Peace....
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