Amoral - Reptile Ride

It's only about half a year ago that I first listened to Amoral's previous release Decrowning, a record that came out in 2005. I was astonished by its quality and I've played it many times since then. Now I'm pleased with its successor called Reptile Ride. Wondering if they can surprise me again.

Oh yes, Amoral definitely can! These Finnish metallers once again put out a really, really strong record that features many ingredients which makes their music very diverse. The production is great, so there are no barricades to not take a sharp listen to this album. Amoral can be a figurehead for Scandinavian metal. Their standard sound can be described as technical melodic death metal. Some songs tend more to progressive/tech-death while others are more thrashy and sound like the Gothenburg-style.

The first couple of songs on the album are the more catchy and better mosh-able songs. 'Leave You Dead Behind' has some killer acceleration parts and features a lot of guitar work, something that can be heard on the whole album. I'm actually not a fan of guitars, but the solos and goated melodies throughout the entire record are really outstanding and even made me as pleased as punch. Second song 'Nervasion' offers some serious blastbeats while its fresh sound and guitars remind me of Children Of Bodom. 'Hang Me High' then has more thrash-attitude, aided by the backing vocals in the refrains.

With track four, 'Mute', Amoral shows a different side when halfway a great instrumental part occurs. From here, the album goes more into another direction. 'Few And Far Between' is slower than the previous songs and features long lasting instrumental parts. 'Snake Skin Saddle' is thrilling and technical, but Amoral definitely saved the best for last. 'Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Fun' and 'Pusher' are sublime, tension building progressive songs that really make my heart go crazy. 'Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Fun' has this Textures-feeling which unfortunately doesn't hold for fifteen minutes. 'Pusher' makes me think of Anata; slow, melodic guitars and spoken text on speedy double bass drums combined with passionate melodeath. An excellent ending of an excellent record and a must check out for a wide range of metal fans.