Marionette - Spite
It is a habit of me to give attention to every band that signs with French label Listenable Records, for it holds a lot of quality bands. This time the Swedish sextet Marionette, who signed their contract back in February 2008, with their debut record Spite two months later as result.Listenable isn’t a label for common metal bands, so what’s so special about Marionette? After listening to the album for the first time I can easily conclude that their speciality is the mixture between Gothenburg (modern) melodic death metal and a bit of hardcore. We’re known with a lot of bands that have evolved from metalcore to melodeath, but this band does the contrary. Although melodic death metal still has the upper hand.
Fact is that I found most of the thrashy parts not original or even boring. And even worse, most of the melodic parts that are characterizing the genre in which they act, don’t sound refreshing either. They sound nagging, but miss a fitting atmosphere. The keys are loudly present, but don’t add much to the music. The melodies won’t stick in your head and are almost redundant - but what remains if you keep them away?
Surprising is that the parts I like the most on Spite, are several bridges and instrumental parts that don’t necessarily have anything to do with melodeath whatsoever. Because the quality of the production is all right, they sometimes sound really heavy and in your face. That - together with two or three nice songs - kind of saved this record for me; otherwise the score would be below 60. So, fans of the genre should check this record out for themselves whether they like it or not. Maybe Marionette would do better as a live band for me, but I fear that they have to go on repeat with their next effort.
66/1001Details Listenable Records
Released on Monday Apr 28th, 2008
Melodic Death Metal
Writer @Mindsaver on Sunday Jan 4th, 2009
Tags: #Marionette
Tracklisting
01. Parasite
02. Legion
03. Release
04. Flies
05. Closed Doors
06. Burn Me
07. In Spite
08. To Make Men
09. Dead Boy And Girls
10. This Pain That We Refuse
11. Black Hand
12. This Is The End
02. Legion
03. Release
04. Flies
05. Closed Doors
06. Burn Me
07. In Spite
08. To Make Men
09. Dead Boy And Girls
10. This Pain That We Refuse
11. Black Hand
12. This Is The End
Line up
Axel Widén - Vocals
Johan Sporre - Guitar, Backing vocals
Aron Parmerud - Huitar
Mikael Medin - Bass
Linus Johansson - Keyboard
Jimmy Olausson - Drums
Johan Sporre - Guitar, Backing vocals
Aron Parmerud - Huitar
Mikael Medin - Bass
Linus Johansson - Keyboard
Jimmy Olausson - Drums