Band:	Raintime
Album:	Tales From Sadness
Style:	Extreme power metal
Release date:	May 06, 2005
A review by:	Malcolm

01. Moot-Lie
02. Faithland
03. Creation
04. The Experiment
05. Denied Recollection
06. Chains Of Sadness
07. Using The Light Forever
08. Daily Execution / Paradox Defeat
09. Butterfly [bonus]

To come as a new band these days aren't the simplest thing in the world. With an already overcrowded society, new bands rarely stand a chance against the inhuman pressure it takes to succeed. And if that wasn't enough, you also have to play something very original or play something so damn good to succeed, and both of those aren't either that simple to succeed with.
So what could we expect of a new band rising out of Italy with their debut? Not much really.

But, you'll see that Raintime might be one exception, these guys aren't playing original music, but they are playing their hybrid between MeloDeath and Heavy Metal in a damn good way, and I'm, sure they'll surprise more than just me.

Formed in 1999, the band started out as a (instrumental) progressive metal act (surprise, surprise) but with the additional of today's drummer (Fabris) they music started to get heavier and towards the music they play today.
They have one demo out, an instrumental progressive metal demo, but this album is their first with this music.

The first thing that stroke me when the great opener "Moot-Lie" started was the singer (and keyboarder), when he sings clean, he sounds much like Thierry Lebourg in Dyslesia (just listen to the clean vocals in "Moot-Lie"), but Claudio also growls, and is doing it very well too.
But as I said, the music isn't original, it's Melodic Death Metal (Suomi-style) mixed with Heavy Metal, so it's quite heavy and fast music with great drums and wonderful riffing.
But the thing Raintime does well is that they really can handle the music in all kinds of speeds and turns, they are indeed very skilled musicians.

It's hard to pick any favourites from this album, since it's very compact and even album, but I have some that I want to point out.
The opener "Moot-Lie", as I said, this tune is giving you a clue about how the music will sounds, so if you like this, you shall buy the album.
But also "Faithland" & "Daily Execution / Paradox Defeat" are great.
To mention some bad things is hard, since there aren't too much to complain about, could be the lack of originality, but that's something almost all bands are suffering of so.

No, this album is really a big surprise, precisely as the whole band Raintime. I'm sure this band will be heard much in the future, and I hope all metalheads will give it a chance, because this is one of the best newcomers I heard in a really long time.

Check Out: Each and every song of them!