One quick look at the cover at of the debut CD from Finland's Blind Stare easily gives the impression of perhaps progressive or power metal music will be contained within, but in actuality this is excellent melodic death metal, even highly progressive at times. These guys mix death, black, and clean vocals with loads of keyboards, a lethal twin guitar attack, and a furious rhythm section. Fans of Children of Bodom, Mercenary, Dark Tranquility, Arch Enemy, and Dimmu Borgir will find much to like here.
"Central Theory" opens things up in grand fashion, with chugging guitars, sweeping synths, and a myriad of different vocal styles. After the heavy yet melodic "My Black Letter", which has many progressive moments thanks to the intricate keyboard work, the band plows forth with the ominous "Ender", which sees lead singer Eino Tuominen alternating between low register death grunts, growling black metal shrieks, and very melodic and powerful clean vocal passages. If you didn't know any better you would think three different people were singing. The incredibly crunchy guitar work of both Anders Ostrom and Jaakko Lehtinen keep this piece nice and bombastic, as well as on the symphonic "An Insane's Diary Part II", a neo-classical power metal feast with raging rhythms courtesy of drummer Timo Palokankare and bassist Kalle Lahti, and intense orchestral keyboards from Zacharias Aarnio. "The Silent Song" is anything but "silent" as the band kicks up this anthem with beefy guitars, throbbing keyboards, dual leads, a catchy chorus, as well as blood curdling death growls.
Pure maniacal death metal is at its furious best on "All For the Unspoken", featuring some killer heavy riffs, while "Shotgun Symphony" falls heavily in the progressive metal camp thanks to some intricate guitar work, superhuman riffs, manic drum work, and symphonic keyboards. Eino elicits some scary black metal vocals on this one, but they work very well with the furious and symphonic musical accompaniment. After the catchy and churning melodic death metal of "Words of Truth", the band finishes out the CD with the classical inspired "Thornhearts", a driving number highlighted by some tasty keyboard work from Aarnio, crunchy guitar chords, and an effective mix of death and clean vocals.
Symphony of Delusions was a real nice surprise, and I see some big things happening for this band. They certainly have the musical talent, and the songwriting seems to be pretty solid, plus I like the way Tuominen mixes his vocal attack so effortlessly and often during each song. There's a new player on the melodic progressive death metal scene folks, and their name is Blind Stare. Check 'em out!
Track Listing
1) Central Theory
2) My Black Letter
3) Ender
4) An Insane's Diary Part II
5) The Silent Song
6) All For the Unspoken
7) Shotgun Symphony
8) Words of Truth
9) Thornhearts
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