Something about Soulthreat’s Storm of Time just strikes me. Despite some rather rough production and at times nearly inaudible MIDI drumming, the songwriting manages to sweep me up into the epic soundscapes of Pius Grave’s one-man, atmospheric/melodic death metal project. I know that this is a terrible comparison, but I can’t help but think of Arghoslent when I hear this. Keep in mind that Arghoslent and Soulthreat sound absolutely nothing alike, and that Soulthreat’s approach is much less straightforward and prefers to use uplifting melodies combined with furious riffing as opposed to awkward, overtly bouncy riffs to get the point across. I draw the comparison mainly due to the fact that I can feel a strong influence from traditional heavy metal in the songs. Some of the riffs in "Painful Wounds" (my personal favorite of the album) are damn near Power Metal. The lyrics are also diverse and personal, ranging from religion ("Mental Suicide"), to depression ("Painful Wounds", "Lasting Memories"), to the concept of time itself ("Storm of Time").
But don’t let the tag of "melodic death metal" fool you, this isn’t anything like the legions of In Flames clones. Soulthreat really have nailed a sound that helps set them apart. The abundance of melody never sounds tacked on and always fits with the music coherently. The one thing that I just can’t help but complain about is the production. It’s lo-fi, which isn’t a big deal at all (in fact, it adds a lot to many recordings), but Pius Grave made a strange decision to bury the drums under the wall of guitars. He only covers the vocal and string duties, that’s fine. The drums are programmed, again, not a problem. But I don’t quite understand why they are so unnecessarily quiet. What this does is rob the music of some of the intensity that I know it has the potential to possess. Thankfully, the superb songwriting and strong sense of melody keep the compositions interesting enough for it to not become a problem. Overall, Storm of Time is a strong release from a very promising project, and worth the time of any melodic death metal fan.
RATING - 86%
Originally written for http://www.metalcrypt.com
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