Sein – The Denial of Death (Callisto Records)
Sunday, 30th May 2021
The first release from this Italian act is sure to hit your At the Gates sweetspot. Sein plays melodic death metal that harkens back to the days when the more blistering and ‘less commercial’ styles reigned supreme. Furious stuff like In Thy Dreams or Eucharist at their most menacing. Prepare yourself for frenetic speed and elegant melodies.
With only six tracks, there’s no reason for the band to hold back, and they blister through the runtime. The only real exception to this is “The Birth of Tragedy,” which opens with a dark yet quiet melody and the track mostly sticks to more dreary riffs and anguish. A nice change up though from its more frantic surroundings. If one track embodies the sheer urgency of The Denial of Death, it has to be that of “Spiral End.” An absolute barnburner of a track, it utilizes galloping thrash tempos and leaps into melodic leadwork and a glorious chorus that tapers the speed and ups the melody without losing the massive ball of hooks and aggression the band has built up. But the title track also holds that same sense of raging aggression, complete with a potent solo later in the track that hits just before an acoustic breakdown that ends the track on a much more elegant note.
Capturing all of the grandeur and fury of the Gothenburg scene, The Denial of Death hits all the right marks for those yearning for some melodic death metal of the highest order. While you can surely hear the influences front and center, it’s been a while since a band got this sound so right. A solid reminder of melodeath at its most frantic.
