D.A.M – Premonitions – Power Of Metal.dk

Melodic Death Metal is definitely one of the trickier Metal subgenres. There is supposed to be some form of melody that is not too well hidden and there is supposed to be Death Metal. Two extremes on a collision course so to say. Yet there are many Melodic Death Metal bands that are able to walk this line just fine. Whether D.A.M is one of these bands is not so easy to say though. They have melody and they have Death Metal elements, but D.A.M’s mix on Premonitions has its quirks.

Take the first song, for instance. It starts with a piano/keyboard, switches to actual Metal, has Death Metal like growling, but there is still an operatic feeling to the song, or at least hints of it. The song becomes better after the first half, but the song is still much too weak and also much too long. I’m afraid to say that this is not exactly a perfect opener for a Melodic Death Metal album. The second song feels much better, but the Death Metal is mostly only represented by the vocalist’s growling. So, is it a Melodic Death Metal song? You probably have to stretch your definition of “Melodic Death Metal” quite a bit, but so what? It is still a nice song. The third song begins with a piano just like the first song which brings up bad memories for a moment. Fortunately these bad memories proof to be mostly unfounded though. Mostly. It is still not a great song, but still way better than the opener. Particularly the female background singer and her clean vocals deserve an honorable mention here. She does a good job, but her implementation feels a bit odd.

The fourth song “Anorexic Dysphoria ( An Elegy for the Brainless)” is definitely the best song here. It is not the heaviest Melodic Death Metal song out there, but there is a smooth flow to the song and its guitar work, guttural vocals and drum beat that really take you away!

More of this please! After that the EP becomes weaker again although the weird sound effect at the beginning of the fifth song and the jazz like intro (think Gary Moore’s jazz period) of the last song both deserve some respect here.

Anyway, the entire EP feels like it was written by a melodic Power Metal band that tried to incorporate some Death Metal elements and fact is that D.A.M might be on to something here. So yes, I do see potential in this band. D.A.M is obviously more than willing to experiment and who knows what the future will hold? As for the present I must say that I cannot go beyond 6 devils here. Power Metal fans who are willing to dangle into Death Metal territory might still find the album to be way more entertaining than these 6 devils suggest.

You do not have to take my word on this anyway due to the fact that the band decided to publish the entire album on Youtube! Just please, go and buy the album if you should like it. Recording sessions are expensive and if we want for Metal bands to continue to do this then we must support them!