Band:	Marionette
Album:	Spite
Style:	Melodic death metal, Metalcore
Release date:	April 28, 2008
A review by:	jupitreas

01. Parasite
02. Legion
03. Release
04. Flies
05. Closed Doors
06. Burn Me
07. In Spite
08. To Make Men
09. Dead Boys And Girls
10. This Pain That We Refuse
11. Black Hand
12. This Is The End

Marionette is one of those bands that will most likely manage to repel potential fans simply by the way they present themselves - after all, five guys in effeminate make-up claiming to play a mixture of Gothenburg 'melodeath' and metalcore conjure the worst possible connotations in today's musical scene. The serious music lover should of course not be concerned about such arbitrary things as trends; however, it is hard to deny that the over saturated contemporary metalcore scene is populated by over hyped and disappointing bands. Well, if there is any band out there right now that is worth forcing yourself into that anti-trend hazmat suit, it is Marionette.

The reason is simple - the music on this album is ridiculously good. The band might dwell in currently overused song structures; however, everything they do sounds appropriate and interesting. For once, breakdowns don't bog down the songs, clean vocals aren't cringe-inducing and genre conventions aren't broken just for the heck of it. Brutality and aggression aren't contrived, with the band nailing the energy of the early Gothenburg scene extremely well. The riffs are memorable as hell, the vocals are powerful and the compositions feature plenty of unpredictable twists. On top of all this, Marionette is also outspokenly inspired by the visual-kei movement (this, and not emo is the source of their feminine looks) and the innovative leads present in music of the greatest representatives of that scene (X-Japan, Dir En Grey, Malice Mizer etc) also appear on Spite. This gives Marionette's music a decidedly unique quality that I have not yet heard so far in the genre. The lead guitars augmenting tracks like "This Is The End" or "Flies" must be heard to be believed. Possessing the same level of finesse and skill as melodic guitars commonly heard in heavy or power metal, they nevertheless manage to avoid the overindulgence of those genres entirely, making them enjoyable even to people who favour a more visceral and less pompous approach to guitar playing.

In their genre Marionette are easily one of the most interesting bands I have heard so far; however, it is unlikely that people who can't stand metalcore will enjoy them, even if they really should make themselves try. This album is chock-full of aggression, features some of the most memorable melodic guitar lines so far this year and hey, they even dress like girls!!! Jokes aside, Spite is well worth hearing.