Nosdrama - Äes
Self-financed

file under gothic metal

Vera: Nosdrama is a do-it-yourself band hailing from Tampere, Finland. In 2003 multi-instrumentalist Ari Niemi and drummer Juhani Mäenpää (is he family of Jari from Wintersun? - I could not trace) joined forces and in 2006 the band released its debut album ‘Cold Trails, Long Roots’. Later it was followed by album number two ‘Burning Black’ (2008). They play melancholic melodic metal with a wide range of influences.

‘Äes’, the third album, is a self-released effort again. It is a concept album about the cudgel war, a civil war in Finland that started on November, the 25th 1596 and it took the lives of almost three thousand people. Music-wise all is done to a turn; in the second song ‘Saint Katherine’s Day’ for instance I hear some Opeth alike sounding riffs and Anathema is another obvious reference. The weak link from Nosdrama however happens to be the vocals and this is obvious from the first track on. Ari might be a skilled guitarist and keyboarder, but his clean vocals are capable of improvement in some of the songs. After a few spins you get used to it a bit and this album gets a rather high score due to the instrumental skills.

Most of the songs are mid-paced and rather epic, with fine, chunky riffs and very beautiful fluent solos, played with loads of emotion. Like I said before: influences come from different genres: ‘Saint Katherine’s Day’ shows progressive textures, ‘Fleming Dogd’ is a faster rocking song, ‘Silence Of The Bells’ charms by turning, oriental guitar sounds and the partly shallow sung ‘White Dressed’ gives a wink to thrash and punk. The three short fragments (one with stupid fair organ) have little importance and the last track, sung out of tune in Finnish by a child, I simply skip. On the other hand, especially ‘The Lullaby’ (eight minutes long) and the contemplative ‘Purgatory Eyes’ happen to be very beautiful. The first one initially immerses us into a kind of Joy Division darkness with spatial guitar sounds and a heavier part is followed by a magnificent (acoustic) guitar solo in the reprise of the calmer part. ‘Purgatory Eyes’ sounds as a conclusion of the story and is regaled with symphonic overtones. It can be seen as a ballad and includes another sure-fire guitar solo. My conclusion: there are some weak points on ‘Äes’, but for fans of melancholic, epic music that can live with the vocals, it is fine music you start to love after a few spins.

Rating 72/100 (details)

http://www.nosdrama.com