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Considering the English translation of the band's name, ".And Death Said Live" is incredibly clever. ".And Death Said Live" gets bonus points for having one of the best album titles I've ever heard. Had ".And Death Said Live" been more emotionally expressive, it would have been right up there as one of the greatest melodic death metal albums of all time. While some may prefer this, it leaves the album sounding a bit more hollow to me than it would have otherwise given the decrease in depth I mentioned above. ".And Death Said Live" features keyboards far less than "The Unborn," though they are still quite prevalent. I almost always will listen to a band with prominent keyboards over a band without even if the band without is superior in technical ability. Why did I give this a relatively low rating of 8.5/10 when I enjoy it so much and when its superior predecessor, "The Unborn," deserves a 9.5/10? I am a sucker for keyboards in music. A special mention must be given here to Ville Viljanen, whose vocal abilities are outstanding. Each and every one of them gave a fantastic performance, though I feel that the new guitarists are a tad weaker than their predecessors. Complimenting both the structure of the album and the solid production is the sheer talent put forth by the musicians. Of course, the bass is criminally underrepresented, but that's a common problem in this kind of music. The production is also impressive, as it leaves everything audible enough without being too far in your face. There really are no weak points in this album, which is probably the only improvement over "The Unborn" (of which my only gripe is that a couple of songs felt like they didn't belong with the rest). This is a great break from many other melodic death metal bands I've heard, who often have a couple of good songs amidst many duds. The aggression is generally toned up and the melancholy is toned down in comparison to "The Unborn," though ".And Death Said Live" doesn't quite match the depth of both aggression and melancholy that "The Unborn" had achieved.Īfter a short intro, ".And Death Said Live" kicks off hard and it never really lets up, with the only exception being a slower instrumental section around the middle. ".And Death Said Live" managed to truly be a Mors Principium Est album while also having its own distinctive flavor that sets it apart from its predecessors. This is true even with the line-up change, which is an impressive feat on its own. While it does not offer any major improvements over the near-perfect "The Unborn," it stays true to the Mors Principium Est sound.
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This particular album features many of the elements that were adored on "The Unborn," most of which were covered above. You'll find melodic passages, haunting atmospheres, blistering tremolo sections, shredding solos, blastbeats, pounding drums, and more - often within the same song! Mors Principium Est has truly created a winning formula that stays true to both the melodic and aggressive sides of melodic death metal.
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The background keyboards provide a dark atmosphere that somehow enhances both the violence and the beauty of the whole package. Still, it bothers me that so many bands are labeled as a form of death metal when they so clearly borrow nothing except perhaps harsh vocals or an occasional tremolo riff from their parent genre.Įnter Mors Principium Est, one of my all-time favorite bands ever since I heard "The Unborn." Their music is melodic and epic while retaining an almost terrifying level of aggression. I even enjoy the "Christmas keyboards" that are hated by the masses here on Encyclopaedia Metallum. Don't get me wrong - I love those kinds of melodic death metal, too. It seems like it has more or less been replaced with "extreme" power metal (Children of Bodom) or musical melancholy with screaming and some softer passages (Scar Symmetry). I have often wondered what happened to the death metal aspect of modern melodic death metal.