"Raintime are what you get when you mix a little Children of Bodom, a little In Flames, a little Hair Metal and a lot of fun!"

Follow up:

7/10

1. Flies & Lies
2. Rolling Chances Watch the video!
3. Apeiron
4. Rainbringer
5. Finally Me
6. Tears of Sorrow
7. The Black Well
8. Beat It (Michael Jackson cover)
9. Another Transition
10. Burning Doll
11. Matrioska

Raintime are what you get when you mix a little Children of Bodom, a little In Flames, a little Hair Metal and a lot of fun! This kinda makes them hard to put neatly into one genre. They're like a progressive melodic power death metal band. heh. These guys come from Italy and this album, "Flies and Lies" is their second major label release. They've gotten enough attention amongst the Progressive/Power community to have landed a spot at ProgPowerUSA VIII in 2007. This album doesn't really stray too far from the sound they've developed on their 2005 disc "Tales of Sadness" rather they've put a nice polish on it.

The album overall has a pretty live sound to it. The rhythm section falls into a pocket rather than being so dead on that it sounds like a machine. Mind you it doesn't sound like they're off. It just sounds human. The guitars are downtuned and there are plenty of dual guitar harmony style riffs that make up these songs. Add to that the fact that the keyboard is very prominent in the mix as well and you have quite the melodic album. The soloing is appropriate. These guys have skill but at times they sacrifice flash for the sake of the overall tune, which isn't always a bad thing. All the tracks have that fun, energetic mood that makes you wanna roll your windows down and crank it up. The vocals are the "scream and sing" style but there's more singing than screaming. He does his job very well too and only after a few spins I was singing along with the choruses to "Rainbringer" and "Finally Me" (the ballad).

The guys do a cover of Michael Jackson's "Beat It" on the album. It's done very well at that. It's definitely "Beat It" but it's definitely Raintime as well. It has all the elements of their sound so they've done a good job putting their spin on the classic pop tune. I do have a complaint about the album though. Although all the songs are good, they tend to blend in after a while. They thrown in the ballad and the cover tune to change up the pace a bit which is nice but when you look at the rest, it's hard to pick a favorite because they all have similar structures and hooks. If I had to pick one it would be "Rainbringer" because it's the one that tends to stay with me after I've left the album alone.

Overall, this is a great album for folks looking for something along the lines of In Flames or Children of Bodom. You'll get a kick out of it for sure. However the real lack of variety keeps this album from being anything other than something for fans of the genre(s).

Links

Raintime on Myspace
Raintime's official website
Buy the album

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