Band:	Athela
Album:	Reliance
Style:	Progressive death metal, Doom metal
Release date:	2003
A review by:	Undercraft

01. Reliance

Four piece from Sweden recorded this one-song Demo called Reliance, and it could be better described as a mixture of Katatonia, Opeth and older Anathema, do you like the brew? Well, the result is more than satisfactory.

I mentioned that this was only one-song Demo right? But I forgot to tell you that the song lasts 13+ minutes, so, the chances to have a good song are very limited, since is very difficult to keep a listener interested and amused in a song throughout almost 14 minutes, don't you think?

Anyway, this is only one song, so I'll try to keep it short, the song starts with some acoustic guitars, and nice calm soothing clean voices, it maintains that way until the second half of the second minute, here's when the growls and the more aggressive parts step in, It goes like that for 14 minutes, but don't read that in the wrong way, the good thing about the song is that it has a lot of moods, and the contrast between those moods really does a favor to the whole vibe of the song.

Both growls and clean vocals are great, so no complains in the vocal department, the production, is also fine, although a keyboard in the mix could be a nice addition in future releases.
Hope to hear more from this band, because this was a pleasant surprise after all, for all of you who want to hear Opeth with a melancholic mood, get this one.