Soulline-Welcome My Sun
- By Aeonis
- Aug 18, 2015
- 3 min read
Soulline is a band from Switzerland and their new CD Welcome My Sun is a good CD with melodic death metal. Although it was produced by Dan Swano, the Swan-man himself, it is very reminiscent of his side projects. The bad thing is the dryness of the vocals but otherwise the musicianship is excellent and the production is excellent. This guy really understands sound. Ok, as for Soulline, well, if you like late Gates of Ishtar and The Duskfall and Late Ablaze My Sorrow, then this is just another melodic Meath Metal band.
Now these guys are really talented but it was not until the song "Drunk" that I really got into this CD. It is a heavily melodic duel guitar and really wonderful showcase of the abilities of the guitarists. It starts off with this classic hardcore riff. I mean classic, I recall the old days of CBGB's in NYC with the skin head Sundays, and the opening and closing riff in "Drunk" could have been right there with the greats, similarly "Broken By Madness" is sort of a hardcore and mostly melodic metal blend. The drum work on this song is really nice to hear. But despite how talented these guys are I can't see them as the the main headliners, at least not yet. The song "Drunk" has some potential with In Flames sounding duel harmonies.
"Right Hear and Now" begins with a piano intro and an equally beautiful driving double bass mid-tempo and melodic guitars and some synth just to add some atmosphere to their song which was unnecessary. However, the song is a solid demonstration of their skills almost like a love or ballad style song. The song was very catchy and could easily bring them fans that they not have earned with their other songs.
The title track is another solid song, but again nothing stands out to get me to distinguish them from other bands. Moreover, what about the thousands of other bands that play melodic Death Metal? The answer is that it was good to have gone to Swano's studio because that probably got them much needed attention to a run of the mill band. Nothing really comes at me to get my attention and say that I have to have this CD or even see this band. Look I would still be impressed if I saw this band before bands like Dark Tranquility or Dimension Zero or Gardenian, but reality is that this is just another melodic Death Metal band. The fact that there are intermittent synths only emphasizes the real lack of creativity. I say this because the synth pads are utilized sporadically and are not a major input into the songs, but really an after effect just to make the song more palatable to the ears of the listener. Maybe this may bring Soulline a more commercial feel.
The song "Anytime Anywhere" illustrates this fact best, because throughout the song there is synth pad that adds to the song's likability. Without the synth addition, I can say that I probably would have not been impressed with the song and would have just shut it off.
Bottom line is that Soulline is a group of good talented guys that just don't demonstrate what it takes to make the cut from ripping heart pounding melodic Death Metal and instead they play commercially inspired Melodic Death Metal. The reality is that with this style of music they are going nowhere and in three to five years they will be nowhere. Sorry I meant to say this was their potentially last CD. Should you get this CD, well if you love melodic Death Metal, then you will probably get like 3 listens from this CD your whole lifetime, so you be the judge. I give them a couple of years before they disband and a 3 out of 5 guitar picks (mainly b/c of good production).
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