In Vain (ESP) - Of Gods And Men - review

In Vain (ESP) - Of Gods And Men - review

Cover image of the reviewed item
Release date
2009
Reviewer
6.0
7.4
Tracklist
01. Hero
02. My Little Butterfly
03. Rotten Cross
04. Lightning Rider
05. Dancing In The Light
06. Hellhounds
07. Devil Is My Witness
08. Black Sands
A review by
Doc G.
March 13, 2010
*Yawn* More generic power metal? Do we seriously need more? Apparently we do, according to In Vain (try searching that band name and narrow it down to 4 power metal bands - good luck.) Finland has done it, Germany has done it, Italy has done it, now apparently it's Spain's turn to step up to the generic power metal plate. So before we continue: Yes, their music is as uninspired as their name.

The intro gives us the false impression that what we're in for is an intense, blistering, pure metal album full of top notch musicians; opening with a mind blowing scream held for what seems to be ages, laid over top a pretty good melody...Then everything turns to shit. The most noticeable set back about Of Gods And Men (bland song writing aside), is the production. The instruments are well balanced out, but in a very condensed, flat recording quality the vocals come through, smothering everything, and it immediately sounds like power metal karaoke. This horrible vocal quality acts as a lose-lose for the band; the vocalist manages to mispronounce every word in the English language, which emphasizes the dominance of the vocal tracking. The dominant vocal tracking emphasizes the man's weak grasp upon the language - vicious circle, basically.

But what's a power metal album without the over-the-top, epic melodies? Not a power metal album, actually. Combine a dash of Firewind with a sprinkle of Edguy, spread a few thrash rhythm section in between and what you've got is the same shit, different pile. Relatively speaking there's worse bands out there, in fact, the music itself isn't all that terrible, just completely overdone.

Admittedly there is a few enjoyable parts scattered throughout the album, there is some undeniable potential, but first In Vain needs to get some shit in order. A) Sing in their native language instead of making a failed attempt at English, B) Make an attempt at doing something at least a little bit fresh, and C) Mix their damn albums properly.
Rating breakdown
Performance: 7
Songwriting: 4
Originality: 4
Production: 4
Written on 13.03.2010 by
Written on 13.03.2010 by
Former EIC. Now just a reviewer guy.

Comments

Comments: 4 Visited by 98 users

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13.03.2010 - 11:18

Posts: 537


Listened to their song ''hero´´ on myspace, is he realy singing in english? it doesnt even sound like it xD
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Permalink
13.03.2010 - 16:10

Posts: 35
Written by silenius on 13.03.2010 at 11:18

Listened to their song ''hero´´ on myspace, is he realy singing in english? it doesnt even sound like it xD

I totally agree!
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Valentin B
Iconoclast

Posts: 10108


Permalink
13.03.2010 - 21:23
Valentin B
Iconoclast

Posts: 10108


Listened to a bit of this, more precisely the tracks on their myspace, which Hero, My Little Butterfly and Hellhounds.
what i find interesting is how they pretty much shuffle the generic power metal parts(consisting of overt Sonata Arctica and old Blind Guardian ripoffage) with pretty interesting metalcore-like melodic parts like the chorus of Hellhounds. the vocals are a low point imo, they should sing in Spanish, it wouldn't make much difference to non-Spanish speakers(if you know what i mean).
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Posts: 32
Permalink
18.03.2010 - 16:32

Posts: 32
I'm from Spain and I can affirm that power metal isn't the best represented style, only Dark Moor have a high level...If you want good spanish bands try The Heretic, Runic, Asgaroth, Foscor, Vidres a la sang, Numen or Embellish...
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If listening manson + rammstein + him + the rasmus + nightwish + within temptation = Goth, then... Cradle of filth = Black Metal ?
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