Review by Allan on November 12, 2002.

The Swedish metal scene as of the past few years has been swamped with melodic death metal clones. They’re everywhere, and it seems as if it’s the only thing that Sweden has the ability to churn out. Despite the fact that Sweden is quickly digging itself into a hole, there are still respectable acts doing their own thing. That’s where Pandemonium and their new album "Insomnia" make their entrance.

Pandemonium’s sound it’s somewhat unique. I’m not saying that what they’re doing hasn’t been done before, but it hasn’t developed into a style that can easily replicated or called generic. The core of Pandemonium’s sound is early Swedish melodic metal, surrounded by both progressive and death metal.

While listening to Pandemonium you’ll notice that they hold a bit more than just the basics. Along with the influences, they also offer you keyboards and three vocalists. These different elements in Pandemonium’s music have been influenced by progressive music, as one can clearly tell by the Andromeda-esque keyboard style, clean vocals, and song structure.

The keyboards aren’t limited to only joyful sounding melodies. Many times the keyboards create a haunting backdrop for the music. At times they’ll also make their way to the foreground and take the lead, or serve as a transitional piece between songs. The vocalist approach is also a particularly nice feature of Pandemonium’s music. Pandemonium has three different vocalists: clean, black, and death - each of them decent at their respective style. At times Pandemonium also do vocal layering between the different styles, which together sound excellent. My only gripe about the vocals is that due to the production, the clean vocals are really low in the mix. They’re audible but they struggle to be heard amongst the instrumentation.

What Pandemonium should concentrate on at this point is developing their composition abilities further. They’re good, and the songs are able to keep the listeners attention fixated on the music, but some of the segments and transitions could have been developed further. Pandemonium could also work on tying the themes of their songs in more tightly, seeing as sometimes the different sections don’t exactly work extremely well together.

Bottom Line: If you love melodic metal but have grown tired from the lack of innovation, Pandemonium can offer you a new take on the sound while bringing in new elements instead of sticking to the basics.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Originality: 7
Musicianship: 7
Atmosphere: 7.5
Production: 6
Overall: 7.5

Rating: 7 out of 10

Review by Allan on November 12, 2002.

The Swedish metal scene as of the past few years has been swamped with melodic death metal clones. They’re everywhere, and it seems as if it’s the only thing that Sweden has the ability to churn out. Despite the fact that Sweden is quickly digging itself into a hole, there are still respectable acts doing their own thing. That’s where Pandemonium and their new album "Insomnia" make their entrance.

Pandemonium’s sound it’s somewhat unique. I’m not saying that what they’re doing hasn’t been done before, but it hasn’t developed into a style that can easily replicated or called generic. The core of Pandemonium’s sound is early Swedish melodic metal, surrounded by both progressive and death metal.

While listening to Pandemonium you’ll notice that they hold a bit more than just the basics. Along with the influences, they also offer you keyboards and three vocalists. These different elements in Pandemonium’s music have been influenced by progressive music, as one can clearly tell by the Andromeda-esque keyboard style, clean vocals, and song structure.

The keyboards aren’t limited to only joyful sounding melodies. Many times the keyboards create a haunting backdrop for the music. At times they’ll also make their way to the foreground and take the lead, or serve as a transitional piece between songs. The vocalist approach is also a particularly nice feature of Pandemonium’s music. Pandemonium has three different vocalists: clean, black, and death - each of them decent at their respective style. At times Pandemonium also do vocal layering between the different styles, which together sound excellent. My only gripe about the vocals is that due to the production, the clean vocals are really low in the mix. They’re audible but they struggle to be heard amongst the instrumentation.

What Pandemonium should concentrate on at this point is developing their composition abilities further. They’re good, and the songs are able to keep the listeners attention fixated on the music, but some of the segments and transitions could have been developed further. Pandemonium could also work on tying the themes of their songs in more tightly, seeing as sometimes the different sections don’t exactly work extremely well together.

Bottom Line: If you love melodic metal but have grown tired from the lack of innovation, Pandemonium can offer you a new take on the sound while bringing in new elements instead of sticking to the basics.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Originality: 7
Musicianship: 7
Atmosphere: 7.5
Production: 6
Overall: 7.5

Rating: 7 out of 10

Review by Allan on November 12, 2002.

The Swedish metal scene as of the past few years has been swamped with melodic death metal clones. They’re everywhere, and it seems as if it’s the only thing that Sweden has the ability to churn out. Despite the fact that Sweden is quickly digging itself into a hole, there are still respectable acts doing their own thing. That’s where Pandemonium and their new album "Insomnia" make their entrance.

Pandemonium’s sound it’s somewhat unique. I’m not saying that what they’re doing hasn’t been done before, but it hasn’t developed into a style that can easily replicated or called generic. The core of Pandemonium’s sound is early Swedish melodic metal, surrounded by both progressive and death metal.

While listening to Pandemonium you’ll notice that they hold a bit more than just the basics. Along with the influences, they also offer you keyboards and three vocalists. These different elements in Pandemonium’s music have been influenced by progressive music, as one can clearly tell by the Andromeda-esque keyboard style, clean vocals, and song structure.

The keyboards aren’t limited to only joyful sounding melodies. Many times the keyboards create a haunting backdrop for the music. At times they’ll also make their way to the foreground and take the lead, or serve as a transitional piece between songs. The vocalist approach is also a particularly nice feature of Pandemonium’s music. Pandemonium has three different vocalists: clean, black, and death - each of them decent at their respective style. At times Pandemonium also do vocal layering between the different styles, which together sound excellent. My only gripe about the vocals is that due to the production, the clean vocals are really low in the mix. They’re audible but they struggle to be heard amongst the instrumentation.

What Pandemonium should concentrate on at this point is developing their composition abilities further. They’re good, and the songs are able to keep the listeners attention fixated on the music, but some of the segments and transitions could have been developed further. Pandemonium could also work on tying the themes of their songs in more tightly, seeing as sometimes the different sections don’t exactly work extremely well together.

Bottom Line: If you love melodic metal but have grown tired from the lack of innovation, Pandemonium can offer you a new take on the sound while bringing in new elements instead of sticking to the basics.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Originality: 7
Musicianship: 7
Atmosphere: 7.5
Production: 6
Overall: 7.5

Rating: 7 out of 10

Review by Felix on October 1, 2019.

I have received a tape with an original dialogue from the rehearsal room of Grave Digger. Somebody says, "we have three new melodies", another guy adds "and five interesting riffs". A third voice, probably that of drummer Stefan Arnold, proudly proclaims "I still can manage the four-four-time". Finally, I guess it is Chris Boltendahl who makes the crucial statement: "Is this really true? Then come on guys, that's enough for a new album!".

Indeed, many Grave Digger albums consist of a mix of very exciting tunes and a couple of ill-defined, listlessly performed tracks. And I am sure that the guys know this dilemma, but they are not willing (or not able) to change it. I am sure, because in most cases, they start with the very good tracks while the second half of their works often drowns in mediocrity. Ballads of a Hangman begins to dilapidate as soon as the ballad "Lonely the Innocence Dies" sets in. A duet of a female singer and Chris makes me sick and the kitschy lyrics ("I'm so afraid I could lose your love") match with the oh so impassioned harmonies. The short solo part throws a little metallic confetti, but this cannot hide the fact that the song is the absolute nadir of the album. The weakness of this song reflects another predicament of the group: either they follow their "more of the same" ideology again and again or their commercially orientated experiments like "Lonely..." go wrong.

At the other end of the scale, one finds the catchy, stirring and swift title track. It combines the almost solemn melody of the chorus with a profound heaviness and proves evidence that the book of traditional metal is not yet completely written. Boltendahl's scream at the beginning shows his competent side and the riffing delivers the necessary currishness as well. In addition, the "Hangman! Hangman!" staccato does not fall short of effect. The only miserable detail is the official video of the song which delivers one of the most stupid clichés of heavy metal: violence against (young) women. So just use your ears to consume this track - and by the way, this is almost always the best choice in order to get in touch with good music.

As mentioned before, Grave Digger have more to offer than only one good riff per album. "Hell of Disillusion" hails with broad riffing and its solid verses, the pressing bridge and the memorable chorus form a strong unit. More or less the same goes for "Grave of the Addicted" with its clearly defined main riff (and all these songs are part of the first half of the album). By the way, it is a pretty well produced album. Grave Digger are no newbies, Ballads of a Hangman was the tenth long player after the re-union. Drums and guitars are powerfully mixed, Boltendahl's voice is neither dominant nor sidelined and only the bass guitar falls by the wayside. Well, we know this situation very well... But we did not know that Grave Digger still have an ace up their sleeve at the end of the record. "Pray" boasts with an outstanding, extremely catchy chorus and therefore we should not talk about the fact that the verses are stolen from a very well-known yet totally shitty German pop punk band (I will not mention its name, I have better things to do!). Nevertheless, Grave Digger stick to their guns: the remaining 65%-songs between "Lonely..." and "Pray" are neither hot nor cold and their main function is to fill the album in a fairly acceptable way. The catchy chorus of "The Shadow of Your Soul" marks the highlight in this context. Be that as it may, do you want to know another quote from the rehearsal room tape? "There will be enough freaks that will buy the album as long as our name is printed on the cover - no matter whether it is good or bad". I agree.

Rating: 7.2 out of 10