Flies and Lies

I just downloaded this from Amazon and I love it. It hits on every level for my tastes. Great clean and death metal vocals, progressive elements, and very nicely done guitar solos. What can I say? This rules. I'm going to state for the record that this is my favorite new music in many months.

On their second album Flies & Lies, Italy's Raintime expand on their melodic signature, bringing in elements of both clean and growled vocals, some cool power metal-style double bass drums, hefty keyboards, and punchy guitar lines. Recorded by noted producer Tommy Hansen (Helloween, TNT), the production is noticeably sharper and more energetic. The album also guests Hatesphere and Manticora members on the aggressive and more melodically driven pieces respectively.

What we have here is the slamming onslaught of melodic metal in the vein of a less aggressive version of Children of Bodom and the typical Euro power metal style, best exemplified on the opening title track. From here on, the album emphasizes the hallmarks of melodic metal and slightly Gothenburg-like material, particularly in the repeated guitar chords set against a semi-brutal vocal attack. "The Black Well" is as close as the band gets to recapturing that vibe, but there are also more laidback, keyboard-friendly songs, such as "Rolling Chances", complete with a crystal clear guitar solo; and the classic Euro power metal of "Rainbringer", as the song title itself implies. The all clean-sung "Finally Me" is the power ballad of the album, highlighting the clear and gripping vocal ability of Claudio Coassin.

The synth-heavy opening of "Tears of Sorrow" launches into a crunchy, metallic verse, boasting both processed and screamed vocals before the band follows it up with Michael Jackson's "Beat It", a sharper take on the original, but the lead playing does fall short of Eddie Van Halen's solo. The most daring song on the album is arguably "Another Transition", which moves from a syrupy synth intro to industrial-tinged goth screams and anthemic power metal harmonies by Manticora's Lars F. Larsen. This is going to be one of those songs that will please the entire audience when played live.

Flies & Lies is definitely an improvement over the debut, and is bound to impress most melodic fans, provided they expect nothing ground-breaking. You've already heard everything presented on this album in various stylings, so don't go expecting anything over-the-top.

(This is a review of the European version of the album; my copy does not contain the Japanese instrumental bonus track.)

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Tracklisting- Flies & Lies . Rolling Chances . Apeiron . Rainbringer . Finally Me . Tears of Sorrow . The Black Well . Beat It . Another Transition . Burning Doll . Matrioska

Since Raintime's debut album Tales from Sadness came and went without much notice, I'm hoping their 2007 effort Flies & Lies helps the band reach the wider audience their music deserves.

Raintime is one of those rare bands that successfully combine elements of death metal and progressive metal. Sounding like equal parts Dream Theater and Dark Tranquillity, Raintime joins bands like Mercenary and Into Eternity in creating a style of metal that can appeal to fans of both aggressive and progressive styles of metal. Flies & Lies continues with the style found on Tales from Sadness - technicality matched with melody, clean vocals matched with harsh, blazing guitar work matched with plenty of keyboards - but takes a dramatic step forward in terms of songwriting and especially production quality. It's a powerful and compelling album that only loses my interest once towards the end, and that's a highly unexpected cover of Michael Jackson's Beat It. I'll give the guys credit for originality, but this one just doesn't work for me. Fortunately the punishingly heavy closing track Matrioska is more than enough to make up for it. If that song doesn't give you whiplash from banging your head, something might be wrong with you!

I enthusiastically recommend this album. It may be a bit too heavy for progressive metal purists and not heavy enough for death metal disciples, but is all but guaranteed to please most open-minded metal fans.

PS - I had the good fortune of seeing Raintime perform live at ProgPower USA VIII in 2007, and I'm happy to report that the band is just as impressive live as they are on disc. Hopefully they will come back to the USA before too long.