Band:	Lifend
Album:	Innerscars
Style:	Melodic death metal
Website:	http://www.lifend.cjb.net
Release date:	2005
A review by:	Undercraft

01. Inner Scars
02. Absence
03. Blood- Red Pain
04. Shattering:Assurance
05. In Darkness I Bleed
06. Open Wound
07. Memorie
08. Spiral Dance
09. Congedo (Outro)

I've heard a couple of songs of this band a while ago, but I don't remember sincerely if I like or not, it was from of their demos I think, since this is their first full length album.
When I received this promo cd, I remembered the band logo, that was the thing that linked me to the song that still, I don't remember.

Anyway, is time to see if this band can impress me, we had a good start, because the cover art is great, really nice and artistic, the band photo is also nice.
The music? After a couple of listens I couldn't describe this, I mean, definitively falls into the Gothic Metal category, but has so many elements that I founded a little hard to digest at first, I'll explain that later.

The album has a share of brutality, blast beats and Black Metal shrieks, but also have female vocals and clear male vocals. Yes, you're thinking, "another grunts Vs angelic female vocals outfit", you couldn't be more wrong, because Lifend is no clone of Tristania, After Forever or any of those Gothic acts.

The thing with this band is that it may sound chaotic at first, but it manages to earn the listeners ear after a couple of spins, the utilization of elements like saxophone and accordion, gives a nice touch to the music, some electronic samples can be found here and there, giving that "extra" flavor that the music needs.

The Black Metal parts are brutal, the more Gothic ones are calm and soothing among the chaos and confusion, songs like "Spiral Dance" and "Open Wound" may interest everyone looking for a good twist on the overused formula of Gothic Metal.
Hints of Avantagardism can be found here, but not too much to be considered as a major influence, one thing is sure here, Lifend tried to do something new, fresh, innovative, and while this is not the album of the year, is quite enjoyable, I can only predict good things for the future of this band, I'll be watching.