Band:	Taliandörögd
Album:	Scraps From The Mire
Style:	Death metal, Thrash metal
Release date:	2009
A review by:	Darkside Momo

01. The Saving Bite
02. Swapping Burdens
03. Inside The Grinding Mould
04. On Hollow Ground
05. Second Shackle
06. Out Of Hand
07. The Plunder
08. Size Of The Stain
09. The Bad Half

Talian are a new band from France. Oh, well, they're not total beginners, as the band rose from the ashes of meloblack act Taliandorogd. The name was shortened, and the style evolved to something still melodic, but now on the thrash/death/core side of things. Yes, Gothenburg it is!

After the very Dark Tranquillity-esque introduction of "The Saving Bite", the assault starts. We're deifinitively in familiar grounds, with harsh vocals and drumming, unrelenting riffing, and melodic guitar leads. And that's the 'basic', but trusted, formula on which the album is built. The guitars do their work very well, propelling the songs forward (along with the tight drumming), all the while infusing a lot of melody in this otherwise pretty aggressive music.

But, let's face the problem now, this album's is quite linear. It's mainly due to the vocals, which are some good and powerful thrash-hardcore stuff, nearly without clean vocals (the rare few are well-though of, somewhat reminiscent of The Haunted's most ambient parts), but they're quite monotonous in the long run, as they're not really varied? Also, the songwriting, while good, catchy and often groovy, does not differ much from the norm set by the style (names like In Flames or Soilwork can come to mind). This said, some songs do stick out, like "Inside The Grinding Mould" with its great riffs, "Out Of Hand" and its tempo changes, or the groovy "Second Shackle".

So, are they but scraps from the mire? Well certainly not, as they are better than that, but they're still not the tastiest fish in this overcrowded pond. There are some good moments, a nice groove, now I guess that Talian just have to refine and perfect their art!