CURRENTLY RECOMMENDED METAL

Reviews by Dr. Metal

SENTENCED – THE COLD WHITE LIGHT

2002 Century Media

In a nutshell, here's how the career of the "Northernmost Killers" has gone so far: The band formed in their native homeland of Finland in the early '90s. Influenced by Slayer and other heavy pioneers, the band was proudly Death Metal on both SHADOWS OF THE PAST and NORTH FROM HERE. The sound changed somewhat to a Speed/Death Metal style with rough but cool vocals provided by Taneli Jarva. Lead guitarist Miika Tenkula sang on SOTP but after that Jarva took over. His crazy lyric style was really cool and his vocals gave the band an 'insanity' that was infectious, almost upbeat Death Metal! The band continued with him in the lineup until he abruptly left after LOVE AND DEATH in 1995. I figured the band was either finished or really set back by his departure, because he really made the band interesting. Wrong. The band answered strongly the very next year with DOWN, a very solid album. Somewhat losing the 'death' edge for a more Doom Metal sound, the band evolved again into a little more progressive sound, based more around power chords and atmosphere. Not necessarily better or worse but different. Sentenced hired a new vocalist, Ville Laihiala and lead guitarist Tenkula played bass on DOWN. On FROZEN , the band added new bassist Sami Kukkohvi. This continued the Clean Doom sound that began on DOWN and continued to FROZEN and CRIMSON and now to THE COLD WHITE LIGHT. Sentenced have fine-tuned their craft into a well-oiled machine.

THE COLD WHITE LIGHT features catchier songs than anything since DOWN. This is the only band I know of that sings about suicide and makes you like it so much. There really isn't any other band that sounds like Sentenced does. They are a unique band with some unique visions of Metal. Their albums are known by several hallmarks such as: depressing song topics with an upbeat yet heavy approach; perfect production and great musicianship and great album covers, layouts and typography. You can't go wrong with a Sentenced album, and THE COLD WHITE LIGHT is another great chapter for a great band. Some of the best songs are "Neverlasting," "Excuse Me While I Kill Myself" and my personal favorite "Blood & Tears." I recommend this album highly, especially if you've never heard the band.

DISCOGRAPHY:

SHADOWS OF THE PAST (1991) (Remastered and released with the 'Journey To Pohjola' demo by Century Media in 1995.

NORTH FROM HERE (1993) Century Media

AMOK (1995) Century Media

LOVE AND DEATH (EP) (1995) Century Media

DOWN (1996) Century Media

FROZEN (1998) Century Media

CRIMSON (2000) Century Media

THE COLD WHITE LIGHT (2002) Century Media

Click here for link to the SENTENCED Web Page!