Birth / The End is the first full lenght album of Agonizer. After a period of nine years with some failed negotiations with records labels (Century Media among others), line-up changes and releasing five self-produced demos, it was time for their full length debut. Agonizer is a Finnish band with the principle of playing melodic heavy metal with their own sound and style.

This last statement is made in their biography and isn�t completely true. While listening to this album, some other Finnish bands came up in my mind. The vocals of Pasi K�rkk�inen are in some songs comparable with the vocals of Ville Laihiala (Poisonblack, ex-Sentenced). The music itself isn�t very authentic either. Take for instance the intro of the song �Black Sun�, this intro could easily be an intro for a random song of Sonata Arctica.

Besides the similarities between other acts - you can also hear a little bit of H.I.M. in the music - the debut album of these guys is a decent piece of work. All guys can control their instrument very well, there are some really nice instrumental parts in some songs. �Prophecy� , for example, is also very promising. Unfortunatilly not all tracks are of this level. Agonizer does have some potential, but it�s not totally coming out on Birth / The End. With some time they may be able to create their own sound and style and therefore I�m looking forward to their second full length.

A remarkable thing is that the band has got a typical Finnish kind of vibe in their music. This is not a bad thing or something, but it's just like you can hear whether a gothic rock band is Dutch or not (I'm not sure if everybody can hear it, but the Dutch themselves certainly can). So if you like Finnish metal: check them out!