DUSKFALL, THE „Lifetime Supply of Guilt”

Music: Melodic Death Metal
Country: Sweden
Website: http://www.theduskfall.com
Duration: 38.03
Cool Songs: Trust Is Overrated, The Shallow End, Break The Pact, Shoot It In

The Duskfall are a new name to me. Their musical style most certainly isn’t. Hailing from Luleĺ Sweden, this five piece band have been through their fair share of line up changes, going through at least three guitarists, a vocalist, drummer and bass player – I’m not exactly sure if any of these guys were even there in 1999, when they first appeared under the moniker of ‘Soulash’. With two full lengths under their belt (Frailty – 2001 and Source – 2003), The Duskfall have inked a deal with uber Metal label ‘Nuclear Blast’ and released album number three ‘Lifetime Supply Guilt’.

The most obvious thing you need to know about The Duskfall is that they play Melodic Death Metal. Yes, really, they do!…can you believe it? I apologise for the sarcasm, but that’s nothing to the collective groans that this disc will most likely garner. To be fair, The Duskfall probably doesn’t deserve the preconceived attitudes to their material, as they are a very competent band. But having not made a dent in the scene with two previous full lengths and then allowing your new label to promote you as the ‘new gods’ of melodic death metal, well…fucking hell, you’re just asking for trouble. Yep, no matter how you dress it up, one always had the feeling that this was never going to match the hype. Oh, it’s not the worst you’ll hear, but if the word ‘generic’ doesn’t exactly have you doing cartwheels, then The Duskfall won’t be on your Xmas list this year.

To their credit, ‘The Duskfall’ does their absolute best to convince. With former members of The Gates of Ishtar (Mikael Sandorf – Guitars and Oskar Karlsson – Drums) at the core of their sound backed by a suitably pummelling production, ‘Lifetime…’ simply roars out of the gates with the sure fire opener ‘Trust is Overrated’. The speedy riffs and thrashy back beat instantly recalls At the Gates/early In Flames’ and if it wasn’t for the fact that 5000 other bands have done the exact same thing, it’d be landmark material. But as we know, nothing could be further from the truth. The best thing that can be said about ‘The Duskfall’ is that they do what they do very, very well. In fact the first five tracks are as good as each other in terms of consistency. But so what? In five years time, when you’re looking for a bit of ‘Gothenburg’ in your metal diet, you are never going to choose ‘Lifetime..’ over ‘Slaughter of the Soul, Jesters Race or The Gallery. You won’t even remember this. And that’s the truth!

The overwhelming problem for ‘The Duskfall’ despite their obvious talents, is that like many who have tried before them (and some are still trying) they lack any sort of personality or identity that separates them from the pack (it’s a freaking huge pack too!) Furthermore, as good as this disc begins, due to its limited variation, after the half way mark it quickly runs out of steam. It bores along at mid to fast tempo fashion, all riff and lead heavy with vocalist Kai Jaakola doing his utmost to carry the load, yet in the end it just lacks the ‘x-factor’ to make it anymore than a solid, but entirely run of the mill melodic death metal affair.

note: 6.8/10

Tracklist

Trust Is Overrated
The Shallow End
Break The Pact
Stubborn Soul
Shoot It In
Going Down Screaming
Hours Are Wasted
Sympathy Has Decreased
Down Right Dreadful
Believe Your Fall