Label : Mazzar Records
Review By Tony Cannella
From Moscow, Russia comes the band Tantal. Their style of music is described as modern, progressive, death metal. Fans can judge for themselves, if that title fits by checking out their debut release “The Beginning of the End”. One thing is for certain… there are healthy doses of melody and musical virtuosity to go along with the death metal mayhem that is displayed throughout the 8-songs and 50-minutes worth of music featured throughout this CD. Starting at the “beginning”, so to speak, the band rips into the 8-minute title track to get things rolling. This song really is a strong intro to this band, featuring plenty of cool melodic bits, some Yngwie Malmsteen style lead guitar work (that can be found throughout the whole CD) and the astonishing vocals of front woman Sofia Raykova. She manages to go from Angela Gossow sounding territories with a rough death metal style, before shifting to a clean, melodic style. Her death-y style is especially brutal and really adds to the overall aggression to the song and her melodic style adds a sharp contrast to the songs. There is still plenty here for fans of strong instrumentation, as the next song “Controlled by Hate” can attest to. This is actually one of the heavier ones featured here, but the band really show off their skills here and again, Sofia‘s vocals are quite strong and diversified on this one. This song is really, really heavy in parts, but it also features some nice changes in tempo throughout the song. The 8-minute “Lifeless Existence” is just a grinding heavy track, which showcases another cool aspect of the band, and that is the lyrics, which were written by guitarist Dmitri Ignatiev. The next track is the instrumental “When Clarity Comes…” which allows the other band members to show off. “Suicide”, “In the End Pt. 1 (Agony)”, “In the End Pt. 2 (Epitaph)” and closing outro piece “Farewell” are definitely well crafted songs that add to the strength of the CD. I am a bit hesitant to pigeon-hole Tantal as just a death metal band. Sure, that is the realm where they come from the most, but their technical efficiency is off-the-charts and in Sofia Raykova, this Russian band have a vocalist who can sing in most any style – she could do very well in singing for virtually any style of metal band. “The Beginning of the End” is a strong, energetic, aggressive and musical debut and I will refrain from making the obligatory, “This is just the beginning” pun, Still, it’s a pretty good start for Tantal.
Rating – 90/100
Tracklist
- Beginning of the End
- Controlled by Hate
- Lifeless Existence
- When Clarity Comes…
- Suicide
- In the End Pt. 1 (Agony)
- In the End Pt. 2 (Epitaph)
- Farewell
Line Up
- Sofia Raykova – Vocals
- Dmitri Ignatiev – Guitars
- Alexander Strelnikov – Guitars
- Michael Krivyletz – Bass
- Vyacheslav Gyrovoy – Drums
Links