Band:	Nevolution
Album:	Music To Snap By
Style:	Melodic death metal
Release date:	2006

01. Split
02. Evil Among Us
03. Blood Sweat And Tears
04. Beyond The Void
05. Song To Snap By
06. Down Came The Rain
07. Die For Anything
08. Apeshit
09. Survival
10. Bullshit
11. The Left Hand Of God
12. Forgiven Not Forgotten

This album had been long awaited with quite a lot anticipation and probably an unfair one for the band. Everyone remembered the 2 songs this band had released as Anubis, especially the song "Suiciety" which kinda reminds most folks on At The Gates, so the pressure was on. But then the band quit, and the two remaining members decided to keep going and got some friends from a nearby village to join them. They started recording the EP that they released before this album but before they started recording the EP they felt they had to change the name of the band since it had changed drastically, then they meant with their musical ideas, and changed it to Nevolution. They got a real good but mixed response to the EP and quite soon felt they had to follow it up with a "studio" album, which ended up being recorded at a remote farm. People were still digesting the very different sound and the level of creativity when the band came out with the news that they had started writing for an upcoming album.

The album was for quite a while in mastering, probably due to the perfectionism of the vocalist Heimir, even though the other band mates felt it was perfect, and indeed the sound and quality wouldn't get any better. When you take in where it was recorded, it sounds surprisingly good in the cd player. What is really nice is the fact that the band members all agreed on that it might be bad to sound too much like the Swedish melodeath bands out there which were, and probably still are, a huge inspiration to them, and they came up with their sound, which is a big bonus from me. I feel bands should try and do something like that to sound different.

The album opens up with the song "Split" a very good opener, it demands your attention and it gets it. It is a good introduction to what is to be expected on this album. It has a bit fast, but good solid, tempo throughout. Next song is "Evil Among Us" which, to me, feels like a filler - but don't get me wrong it is a pretty good filler. However it kinda loses direction at the end. And, sadly, so does the album. They should have thrown out "Forgiven Not Forgotten" and ended with "The Left Hand Of God." Then I would've given the album a solid nine, but it's easy to be at other end of the table and play the critic.

Overall it's a relatively good album, it certainly doesn't lack diversity. The most noteworthy songs would be "Split", "Down Came The Rain", "Die For Anything" and "The Left Hand God". Both of the instrumental songs are interesting, and the second instrumental song "Bullshit" ended in a 2007 drive safely advertisement from Iceland, at least does the song used sound really similar.

The performance comes as a no surprise since I know the lads are highly ambitious. The vocals are what you expect from Heimir, very good growler or screamer and competitive as a clear voice vocalist to, also backing vocals is a nice addition to their musical arsenal, it kinda adds to the emotions they're experimenting with at different parts of each song.

There really isn't much negative about this album, again one can always ask for a bit more originality, but that's quite unfair to point out since this is a relatively original peace of work. Overall it is a very divers album and very a enjoyable listening, I recommend this to any melodeath fans and to those open to try out melodic metal.

Pros:
It's a very diverse album
The most noteworthy songs would be "Split", "Down Came The Rain", "Die For Anything" and "The Left Hand God"
They come up with their own sound
The solos fit tremendously well to the songs

[-] Cons:
The album probably isn't as heavy as a melodeath fan would expect
They should have thrown out "Forgiven Not Forgotten" and ended with "The Left Hand Of God"

Rating breakdown

Performance:	10
Songwriting:	8
Originality:	8
Production:	9

Written by Aebsi | 25.04.2009

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Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.