Review by JD on June 5, 2009.

Progressive music has been becoming rather big over in parts of Europe, more than ever before in the annals of rock. Over here in the more jaded North America, it still growing although rather slowly. I have heard many very good Prog-rock and Prog-metal bands, in the last few months and was happy to receive Sweden's Melaina.

To pinpoint this CD, it is a Progressive Rock album with a few dashes of metal moments smattered here and there. All of the standard progressive things are there: I found some really amazing musicianship throughout the album, there was also some well thought out and harmony fuelled arrangements and some well written and thought provoking lyrics. These were the good things about the album... what is wrong in the album is a bit more glaring and makes me shake my head a time or two.

The things that are wrong about this album make the whole project sink faster that what happened to the Titanic out in the Atlantic Ocean almost a hundred years ago. Over production spoils the feeling I knew the band was trying for, yet it is the real lack of some needed heaviness makes the music ends up feeling plainly flat. From start to finish it grinds and sputtered as it tried the rev up at high RPM’s, but ends up never getting going. It really does feel like Ferrari, that has the motor of a late 80's Lada compact.

In my view, if the band could really heavy it all up (especially in the guitar and bass department), and let the recording be more raw and straight to the point... It would totally improve Melaina’s music ten fold. They may lose some of the progressive quality, but you will get back the one thing that is needed here... that strong feel that boils up from your soul. If they don’t try this, I do not see a future for a band that clearly has some very amazing talent... it would be lost in a sea of over done.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 6
Production: 5.5 (way over produced)
Originality: 6.5
Overall: 6

Rating: 6.4 out of 10

Review by Felix on January 20, 2024.

Let’s say it this way, Azaghal’s discography does not suffer from a narrow range of quality. On the one hand they have released fanatic works like “Omega” or “Nemesis”, on the other hand a few of their outputs are simply perplexing in view of their lack of class. The “Suicide Anthems” belong to the second category. They are no lukewarm material, Azaghal attack with full force. But in particular the both songs at the beginning fail to present strong guitars or clear structures. To make matters worse, the rumbling, blurred sound lacks transparency and clarity. I appreciate the fact that the bass guitar is audible, but all in all, this noisy mix cannot convince.

The hammering, merciless start of “Käärme ja avain” marks the first interesting part of Azaghal’s contribution. This song does not have the substance to be called a classic, but its guitar lines are coherent and the entire number is well structured. The devil at the microphone spits out throaty insults (at least his Finnish lyrics sound insulting) and the high-speed approach (including a calm break) wipes away the first signs of boredom. Thus, this song delivers the “Demonic Energy” the second title already promised, albeit with some delay. The second and simultaneously final good song is “Kill Yourself”, but firstly, it does not leave a lasting impression and secondly, S.O.D.’s eponymous neckbreaker was much better. 50% and a big question mark for Azaghal: what went wrong here?

The production of Beheaded Lamb’s tracks sound different, but not better than that of Azaghal. It’s just another kind of ill-defined rumbling. Nevertheless, they show a more passionate performance here. Okay, they do not deliver the smallest sign of Spanish identity; they are highly influenced by Scandinavian role models and a little bit of “Transilvanian Hunger” is one of the components that form songs like “Across the River”. Cold, rapid guitar lines and a seemingly desperate lead vocalist know no clemency, not to mention the constantly insane drumming. Given this fact, they do not add a Spanish note, but compared with Azaghal, they are the better Finns. It’s somewhat sad that they finished their project pretty soon, although the four tracks leave room for improvement during some run-of-the-mill sections. Anyway, Beheaded Lamb showed a solid first performance (66%) and the fact that they continued their unholy activities in the infamous Körgull the Exterminator makes it easier to accept their early end. However, I cannot recommend this split whole-heartedly.

Rating: 5.8 out of 10