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Julie Laughs Nomore, a Swedish death metal band who are gradually rising up in the metal world, and may well be a big name in years to come. This CD is their second full length studio album, and is quite brilliant to say the least.

This album combines the dark edge of crushing death metal, with the melodic, epic side of power metal. The mixture is brilliantly projected by the band, and makes for some excellent listening. The opening song "Mistress Of Death" begins with a crushing string of blast beats, becomes quiet with a dark bassline, and with a few beats of the drums builds up into a crunching rhythm, with an epic passage to follow. This track sets you up well for an adventure of variation and complexity throughout the album.

Complexity indeed - each song is comprised of several different riffs, intricately placed to flow with each other, thus making the bridge between clear-cut death metal and epic metal very smooth, with melody remaining the key. This variation is brilliant, as it really keeps my interest, with different twists and moods within the individual tracks. Another fine aspect of the music is Danne's great vocal range. He changes between killer death growls, and clean vocals that resemble Blind Guardian's Hansi Kürsch. I like this because sometimes death growls alone can become monotonous, as can clean vocals alone, so this combination adds more flavour to the mix.

Tempo changes are abundant, with a crunching drum beat from Ronnie while Benny and Thomas play haunting riffs, which changes to fast double bass during the epic musical paths. Blast beats are in short supply, which is great for such a melodic album, but they are used now and then to give particular riffs a boost.

For all melodic death fans, this album is a must! But all metalheads will be able to appreciate it for its sheer musical excellence.

Recommended Tracks:

Mistress Of Death
The Iron Gate
Eternity Is Just One Step Away
200 Years

Rating - 5/5