Fiend-Before My Eyes...

Out of all of the albums that I’ve reviewed that were on the Reviewer’s forum, this is definitely so far the best one. This Russian powerhouse plays melodic death with nu metal and some industrial metal mixed in. The one thing that surprised me is that they pulled it off amazingly! Katalepsy, Taking Your Last Chance, and Xe-None are the only other Russian bands I know up, so I don’t really have a feel for what the general Russian metal sound is. There is one thing about this album that’s driving me crazy, and it doesn’t have anything to do with the music. The record company made a special version for reviewers to where every 20 seconds or so an annoying voice would say “Fivebyfive Records”. So I went out and bought the CD so I will be able to enjoy the album in its purest form.

Now something that is very important to me when it comes to an album is the opening track. First impressions are important. And if the opening track is amazing, I’m much more likely to find the rest of the album easier to enjoy. But it the opening track is less than impressive, I’m not going to be as motivated to keep listening. Now don’t take that as me being a “judge a book by its cover” kind of person, because I’m nothing like that. My opinions on things are just extremely influenced on first impressions.

So I play the first track titled “System Error”. The smooth melodic piano intro transitions into traditional metalcore style drum intro. Then instantly, the loud mesmerizing guitars leap out of the speakers to enclose you in a dark melody. Great first impression….check.

You will also get more industrial sounding songs like “Liar”, “Fade Away”, and
“Soundtrack to my Life” adding a really interesting twist that I’ve never seen before in the time I’ve been listening to melodic death. The songs that I find the most interesting are the songs with a really strong nu metal feel. It doesn’t seem like it should work, that’s why I was kind of uneasy about this band at first. But before you say it won’t be good, listen to “Drops of Time” and “Eclipse”. It’s amazing beyond what I imagined. The thing that they do with the screamed vocals at the beginning of “Drops of Time” before the singing…I don’t know what to call it. I guess they’re taking a clip of a scream and repeating it at an odd beat? Haha my point is though that that element reminds me strongly of old Primer 55 and Disturbed. But I would have to say my favorite tracks off the record are “The Moth”, “System Error”, and “Give Me”. This album is very impressive and deserves a lot of acknowledgement and credit. 19/20.