Ever get that feeling of déjà vu?  I feel like I reviewed something just like Amaranthe’s self-titled debut album about a year and a half ago.  No one remembers that album just like the new Amaranthe?  That’s not important right now; what is important is that Amaranthe is a Swedish/Danish band that employs three vocalists and play melodic death metal.  I am almost certain that warning flags will be flying inside the minds of half the listeners, but this is an album review, so I have to soldier on.

Amaranthe’s trio of vocalists consists of a clean male vocalist (Jake E), female vocalist (Elize), and screamer (Andy).  While that at the very least provides some interesting moments in theory, music is executed in practice, and the vocals part of that is full of mixed results.  Musically, I was actually expecting worse, as the early word of mouth was less than kind to the band.  After listening to the self-titled album a couple of times, comparisons to In Flames and Blackguard seem apt, which does depend on how you feel about either band.  Getting through the entire album proved to be challenging, as after about the first five tracks, nausea set in for me.  If there was good news, arguably the best track on the album followed in “Amaranthe,” which in itself shouldn’t be too hard to remember, since it’s also the name of the band (in case you didn’t know that already).  For the most part though, most of the album just sounds like one big wall of noise that can be difficult to pick out specific parts in the music apart from the electronic sample snippets throughout the album.  Vocally, it sounds like the proverbial “too many cooks in the kitchen” argument, with three distinct styles clashing with one another, though there are points where the arrangement actually works, as evidenced on “Automatic.”  Beyond a few glimmers of hope, there is simply too much fog to cut through to find anything truly enjoyable about Amaranthe.

There is no question that Amaranthe has something going for it, as evidenced by them being signed to Spinefarm Records.  However, the In Flames and Mnemic worship provide more than a headache for the most ardent metal music fan.  The self-titled debut would be decent for people who need a gateway into metal music, but that’s about it.  Not as horrible as I thought it would be, but really not too good, either.

TRACK LISTING

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*Comments:

1.  Leave Everything Behind
2.  Hunger
3.  1,000,000 Lightyears
4.  Automatic
5.  My Transmission
6.  Amaranthe
7.  Rain
8.  Call out my Name
9.  Enter the Maze
10.  Director’s Cut
11.  Act of Desperation
12.  Serendipity

Total playing time:  42:34

Release Date: April 13, 2011
Label: Spinefarm Records

Amaranthe - Amaranthe

Reviewer: Peter

April 17, 2011