Acoustic Torment - My Hope Is In You (1999)
Melodic death metal is back! These guys are from Germany and the European influences show heavily especially in the second track "Sick World" with lots of melodic guitar lines laid over a really killer double bass attack. This song reminds me a bit of Amorphis on the "Tales from A Thousand Lakes" CD. After that the band kicks into gear with some modern groove style death and then eventually dives head first into some old school death style. The vocals are guttural and delivered smoothly. The vocalist sounds like he is in his natural habitat here and sounds neither strained nor monotonous. The vocals vary from extreme guttural to a higher rasp. The production is clear and solid. Overall this isn't really a technical death album, mostly lots of groove-death, but it does have it's moments. The intro to "Environmental Disaster" is done with blurring skill and parts of other songs speed up to a pace that is only rivaled by death metal masters but almost always slows back down very quickly. At one point if you listen closely you will hear a short but sweet guitar riff that sounds a lot like old Tourniquet. Overall a very decent first release. -- Review by Norm