Holy crow! These four young lads (three out of four band members are a whopping twenty years old, and their drummer is all of nineteen) out of Sweden known as Zonaria are certainly flying the melodic death metal flag loud and proud on their debut release Infamy And The Breed. One might assume that on the surface it appears that Zonaria's young collective could be lacking the vital experience necessary to deliver such a snarling beast as they've done here. However the group are having none of that, and in fact both vocalist /guitarist Simon Bergland and fellow axeman Emil Nystrom have been doing this since they were fifteen, so you can forget about any talk of inexperience being an excuse for the results presented here.
In an effort to match the lyrical themes of the apocalypse and the demise of mankind, the band opts for a clean and at times cold sounding approach in the overall music and production. While I can understand the reasons behind this, the results often come across as being too slick and mechanical. The overabundance of synthesizers, which is very prominent in the mix, is probably the biggest reason for this. Another thing which holds Infamy And The Breed back back at times from reaching it's true potential, is that all too often many of the songs are performed at the same tempo so as a result things start to sound derivative rather quickly. When the band does change things up, they do it effectively, and just by adding guest vocalist Christian Alvestam's clean vocals to offset Berglands lower register growls on "The Armageddon Anthem" and "Attending Annihilation", adds a weclome bit of depth and color. The aggression levels run rabid and the musicianship as a whole is very solid and the melodic and adept guitar work throughout is certainly reason enough to investigate this band further.
I actually think Infamy And The Breed is a pretty respectable debut effort and while I'm not convinced just yet that Zonaria are the heir apparent to Sweden's death metal throne, only time will tell, but this CD proves they are definitely heading in the right direction.
Track Listing
1) Infamy (Intro)
2) The Last Endeavour
3) Pandemic Assault
4) The Armageddon Anthem
5) Rendered In Vain
6) Image Of Myself
7) Evolution Overdose
8) Attending Annihilation
9) Descend Into Chaos
10) Ravage The Breed
11) The Black Omen
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