Band:	System Shock
Album:	Arctic Inside
Style:	Melodic death metal
Release date:	September 06, 2004
A review by:	Malcolm

01. Devilwish
02. Orbital
03. Fading Star
04. Moonlight
05. Cult Of Orion
06. Safe Inside
07. Bleed It Off
08. Arctic Circle

Melodic Death Metal from Sweden, that's very usual today, actually Sweden might be the country that produces the most MeloDeath band in the world for the moment, even if other countries are catching in on us.
But anyway, yet another time, a Swedish MeloDeath band got a record deal with a label out in Europe, I guess all labels will have one soon (a Swedish MeloDeath band).
System Shock is signed by the Dutch label Karmageddon, a label that has much of this kind of music, so I guess the band might be in the right label at the point.

System Shock was formed in the town of Norrköping by the guitarist Lukas Bergis, and after finding suitable members the band they actually recorded the album by their self and sent it out to different labels, and that's how the ended up on Karmageddon.
The band might be new and unknown, but there is one band member that have quite much experience, and that's the drummer, George Kolias (maybe you recognise that name?) ex- Nightfall, so he isn't exactly a novice.

The album is recorded in Tico Tico Studio in Finland, the same studio that, for example Sentenced, Children of Bodom and Impale Nazarene used, so you can guess that the sound is very good for being a debut album. And with a cover of the almost legendary Niklas Sundin, this album really got what it takes to strike with a debut MeloDeath album, if now the songs are good enough.

So now, let's talk about the music that System Shock is performing, is it good enough so strike hard?
Well, the music is pretty much what I expected of a new MeloDeath band, it's not original, it's very influenced by larger band, but hey, mention 3 MeloDeath bands that have released their debut the last years that are original.
The music is fast and melodic, with growl song and the album is short, almost 40 minutes, very usual. The main influences is not other, larger bands like In Flames and Dark Tranquillity, it's more like older Amorphis, Sceptic Flesh and old Nightfall, harder more brutal MeloDeath, as you might understand.

I really think this band can grow an become a more important Metal band in the future, but first they have to find their own identity, and that takes time for every band today, but give them 3 more albums and I think they will be quite big, they absolutely got the potential.

Check Out: "Devilwish", "Orbital", "Bleed if Off" & "Arctic Circle"