Band:	Admonish
Album:	Insnärjd
Style:	Black metal
Release date:	February 01, 2007
A review by:	Deadsoulman

01. Tower Of Strength
02. Istid
03. A Glimpse
04. Journey Into Afterlife
05. Legacy

Internet geeks and MTV addicts might already know of Admonish, probably without having ever listened to a single song of the band. How is that? Well, a couple of years ago, two members of the band appeared in MTV’s Pimp My Ride program and made quite a lasting impression on YouTube and co by growling and headbanging around in their ruined car. As fun as it was to watch, it certainly did not make me want to check out the music these two guys produced. So, Admonish, a joke band needing attention from a crap TV program to worm their way to the sun?

Not a second. The 25 or so minutes of “Insnarjd” (their second EP) display quite a lot of skills, ideas and talent to turn a genre that is rather overcrowded and can quite rapidly become a real suckfest, i.e. melodic black metal, into something that sounds at least a little personal. Oh, don’t worry, they’re not opening new grounds for experimentation or laying the foundations for a whole new perception of music or anything like that. But their music has a kind of stirring, lively, slightly upbeat twist that is quite unconventional. It is actually a good thing that they chose on which side of black metal they wanted to stand. They’re not trying to out-grim anyone or to compete with the most bombastic symphonic pompous miscreants of them all – the rare keyboards accentuate the riffs rather than outshine them. All the attention is given to creating eerie melodies and not to try to fit into the standards of the scene. That doesn’t mean there is no abrasion or darkness in the metal of Admonish. The focus is simply put more on the catchiness of the guitars. This approach is working fairly well, mainly because the riffs have a kind of rolling, doomish quality which sounds quite odd because at the same time they retain a little of that upbeat twist I was mentioning above. Dark and joyful at the same time, it shouldn’t make much sense, and yet it does.

Altogether this is a very decent melodic black metal album which stands well above most releases in the genre. It is quite obvious though that they can do much better – there is still a lot of room for improvement. They should quit those ridiculous and fortunately rather rare death growls for one thing, the black metal screech is good enough. So, nothing groundbreaking or jaw-dropping, just good, immediately enjoyable music made by an obviously talented band.

Note: I didn’t mention that they’re a Christian black metal band before because it has nothing to do with the music. If you think it betrays some kind of “black metal evil spirit” or whatever, well, bugger.