### Sentenced: The cold white light

#### 08/12/10 || Altmer

##### Introduction

This may be an odd selection for a class 6(66), since it’s not that old – was released in 2002, and therefore may still be fresh in the minds of some. Old people will remember this band as a death metal band, and not what they are here – but that’s okay. Sentenced were a fine death metal band back in the day, but that sound was never the one I preferred – the change of vocals and the change of sound to more rockier, melodic territories suits me just fine. It’s a pity not many of the other albums of that later era hold up so well because seriously – this is a damn fine album. And by damn fine, I mean, you could blast this out of your 7th story apartment and annoy the neighbors with their yelping dog 3 floors below you. This album sounds good when blasted loud, excellent when softly whispering into your ear, and fantastic any time of the day. This record is muthafucken excellent, and you should be listening.

##### Songwriting

9. Songwriting is the strongest aspect of this release. They use very standard musical fare – the riffs are groovy and crunchy, and are in that no man’s land between metal and rock – sometimes you think it’s just a rock band playing. But the extremely crunch distortion makes you think otherwise. They manage to vary the tempo a bit, going from faster material such as opener “Cross My Heart and Hope to Die” to some more ballad-esque material, but even here they manage to avoid the large swathes of cheese some delve into. It’s still not fucken power metal, guys!

And a million bonus points for the heavy part in “Everything is Nothing”. That rules so hard I take a bow to these motherfuckers forever.

But really though – it’s all good. There isn’t a bad song on this album except the intro. OK, so I lied. “Blood and Tears” is not very interesting either. But the rest is. And that is saying quite a bit since this sort of shit usually has a few duds here and there. Not the case here. Rock solid throughout.

##### Production

9. Sounds excellent when blasted loud. The guitars have a real nice crunch to them which I really dig. The lead guitars sound deluxe. I love the drums and keys as well, they all fit nicely into the mix. Basically, for what it is – it keeps the guitars groovin’ and the melodies movin’. That’s what you want and need in this music and the sometimes odd spacing of sounds, like the intro to “Excuse Me While I Kill Myself”, doesn’t detract from that awesome, awesome sound this album has.

##### Guitars

10. Miika Tenkula was the god of the dreary lead guitar sound. You know, that weeping guitar kind of thing that you find in old rock and roll albums? He has that down so well. Those leads hit you everytime. It’s a wonder the guy wasn’t dead already when he recorded this becoz it sure fucken sounds like the motherfucker wasn’t happy. R.I.P Mr Tenkula, you were one of the biggest guitar geniuses this planet has ever had. And the same goes for his colleague on the guitar, Sami Lopukka. The riffs, man, the grooving riffs; the sound of thunder, yet not overbearing. I love it like I love all the good things in life. This is worth the perfect ten, just for the sound alone. Fuck.

##### Vocals

7. The vocals aren’t exactly amazing, but they suit the music. Ville has a rough quality to his voice, with a bit of gravel in there, and it works nicely, especially with the dirty guitar tone. It is probably a bit goth for some people, especially with the Finnish accent, he sounds like the cousin of Ville Valo. But not as gay. I guess that’s something to be proud of since Ville Valo isn’t exactly my cup of Finnish melodic metal semen. This guy is. And that’s cool with me.

##### Bass

8. It works, bitches. Grooves like a crazy and that’s that. Bass is underrated and it’s no different here. All the bass player needs to do here is make those dirty drum beats work, and that the bassist does. Fuck it. I’m out of here, I am not a bass aficionado so what do I know.

##### Drums

7. They do what they do. They keep the beat, they work in tandem with those crunchy rocking riffs and they always keep the solos in check perfectly. Is there outstanding drum skeels™ on this record? No, but you don’t need it. It fucken rules by virtue of simplicity.

##### Lyrics

9. Some of the lyrics are plain goofy, even by Finnish standards. “Excuse Me While I Kill Myself” is just odd on all accounts. “You Are The One” is incredibly romantic, but gay in the process. The rest of the album is all pretty much the Suicide Squad over again. If you want an album to kill yourself to, this is your album. Even the nice optimistic moments such as “Brief is the Light”, with its Carpe Diem vibe don’t ruin it too much. I fucken love moody lyrics so it’s no surprise that I like this. Highlights include “The Luxury of a Grave” and “Guilt and Regret”. But it’s pretty much all excellent anyway.

But, seriously, “Excuse Me While I Kill Myself”?

##### Cover art

8. Simple, effective, and moody. Can we ask for more? I thought not. It’s what it is. And it needs to be that exactly.

##### Logo

6. I hate rating logo’s. This logo is nothing special, so fuck them for that. But the band is more than cool enough to make up for it. It looks kind of spiky, I guess.

##### Booklet

7. It’s moody, it’s got the amazing lyrics, and it looks cool and Finnish, I guess. It suits the vibe they were going for, that is all I care about.

##### Overall and ending rant

Melody in metal was never done better. The Finnish suicide squad released their strongest album with this one and released an album I can always listen to, in whatever mood, but usually when sad since this album fits that mood to a T.

In short, I fucken love this album and so should you. Really. It’s a bit gay, but it’s so good that any cheese is more than made up for. Get it, and make it one of the few purchases since they sadly never managed to get close to this one ever again.

- Information
- Released: 2002
- Label: Century Media
- Website: www.sentenced.org
- Band
- Ville Laihiala: vocals
- Miika Tenkula: guitars
- Sami Lopakka: guitars
- Sami Kukkohovi: bass
- Vesa Ranta: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Konevitsan Kirkonkellot
- 02. Cross My Heart and Hope to Die
- 03. Brief is the Light
- 04. Neverlasting
- 05. Aika Multaa Muistot (Everything is Nothing)
- 06. Excuse Me While I Kill Myself
- 07. Blood and Tears
- 08. You Are The One
- 09. Guilt and Regret
- 10. The Luxury of a Grave
- 11. No One There