[Hateandhatred]

Omfg you reviewed Shining, a comment is in order.

Originally Posted by EzExZeRo7497

Shining by IneartheD (recommended by Hateandhatred)
IneartheD is a Finnish melodic death metal band, though fairly unheard of. However, most people would know the band under a different name - Children of Bodom. IneartheD is the band CoB formed before they were CoB, back in 1993. I'm not too familiar with Children of Bodom, although I've heard some of their works. I thought they were decent. Their sound seems to be more melodeath instead of melodic power metal though, so it should be an interesting listen. Shining is their last EP before forming Children of Bodom.

Wow, talk about horrible audio quality. I mean eighteen years ago audio quality isn't the best, but it's not that bad. Anyway, Talking of the Trees is pretty harsh. Lots of blast beats, many growling sections, just aggressive overall. It is metal being metal. The female vocals here are a neat touch, it keeps the track fresh. In its harsher moments though, I could really feel its energy - despite its lo-fi sound. The lo-fi sound does detract from my enjoyment significantly - it's not like Burzum's Filosofem. While both albums have poor production, Filosofem actually benefits from its raw quality.

I could say the same for Vision of Eternal Sorrow. While the recording quality is ever so slightly better, it's still rather poor. Very intense energy as a whole - significantly more than your typical melodeath release. Maybe that's where the poor recording quality benefits? Most good melodeath releases to me are insanely catchy, but never overly aggressive. Shining isn't necessarily catchy, but it definitely is a very raw sound. It's quite unique, I usually get similar energy from something like black metal, instead of melodic death. Interesting.

Homeland is probably the track that I'm most familiar with. It's the track that reminds me of melodic death metal the most. While the energy and atmosphere still reminds me of black metal, it's definitely the catchiest track in the album. Fast paced keyboard, harsh vocals/blast beats/guitar, insanely fast atmosphere, it's nuts. Again though, the recording does reduce the atmosphere significantly. The energy however, is stronger than ever. It does lead me to believe that the track's main appeal is the energy, rather than the catchiness. Perfectly understandable, but there are some other metal tracks that are more overwhelming. Erblicket die Töchter des Firmaments for example, is just absolutely insane. It's dark, overwhelmingly disturbing and just all in all fantastic.

The self-titled track is a cute acoustic ballad. The energy level does rise every now and then, but it's not much to talk about. It's nice sounding though, if not just a little bit bland. Anyway, I see this album as sincere, more than anything else. Despite the horrible recording quality, IneartheD tried their best to emulate an overwhelming and powerful atmosphere. The conditions might not be flawless, but I could tell that they put their heart and soul into it. The asinine recording quality further proves it. I'd say that they have been successful, but the recording quality is incredibly detrimental to it overall. While I do agree with its sincerity, it doesn't really mean that I'd like it. If anything, I would just respect it for what it is. Just not something I'd listen to again.

It's a shame that the quality is really what bogs down the album so much, though. While I could see how it could be a plus for some, it really isn't for me. I do like some lo-fi recordings, like Natural Snow Buildings. This though... doesn't quite do it for me. It's TOO lo-fi. I don't really need overly pristine production, something like Burzum's Filosofem would do. This is just... too poor. Aside from that though, it's not bad. The tracks aren't overly fantastic, but they are good for what they are. The songwriting and all is great, better than most melodeath I've heard. Even with horrid sound quality, they still managed to convey their energy in their songs. Always a good thing. Little disheartened by the fact that Children of Bodom doesn't make tracks similar to this anymore (to my knowledge), this is quite promising. A mixture of melodic death metal and black metal sounds like a wonderful idea.

Album Highlights: Homeland
Track Average Rating: 3/5
Overall Rating: 6/10

Alright.

First of all, thanks so much for reviewing my favorite album ever!

Secondly, I'm really surprised you had such a hard time with the production quality. It is god awful, not denying, but I thought it would be charming to you. It's like being there, in a dark garage room, pure, raw, heavy, but without sacrificing the melody to heavier noisy stuff. Imo, it adds an ambient touch, but if it is really that hard on you, you could check out the first 2 demos. They feature significantly better recording quality (nothing like actual Children of Bodom albums, though, let's not get silly) but are a little bit more balls to the wall metal. No clean and softer moments in songs, I guess they are much more black metal than raw melodic death metal.

As far as music like this... I myself have yet to find anything similar, let alone from Bodom (although the interlude in Talking of the Trees is actually used in Mask of Sanity before the solo). I'd say Shining is a mixture of True Norwegian Black Metal and Melodic Death Metal with some touches of Black Ambient, which is partly why I expected you to love it even more than I do myself. But oh well.

Otherwise, great review as always man. Let's pray that someday COB re-releases these demos as an anniversary thing or some shit. Too good and unique to be left dying out imo, and an alternative version with some top notch quality could be interesting to have around. There are some remasters/covers/rerecordings lying around on YouTube, you can check this out if you care, but imo, it sort of kills the tracks imo. Meanwhile I'll just keep hoping Mors Principium Est makes something that comes close to what IneartheD pulled together back in the day.

Last detail, if you're any familiar with newer COB, you can't possibly let slip how fantastic Raatikainen's drumworks were back then.

That's about all I had to say about it. I'm still very happy with your review, and also happy to have introduced yet another person to what I've been almost religiously listening to for the past what, 8 years?