*. Nosdrama .*

Album: Gravity (2013)
Genre: Prog Metal (Prog Rock)  /  Finland

"Gravity" is the fourth full-length effort from Finnish Gothic Metal band NOSDRAMA. That being said, it is the product of a group that has had some experience and probably knows their strong points – which in this case seems to be a lighter more rockfish offering. Yeah, "Gravity" honestly does not fall under, to me, the category of ‘Gothic’. Nothing against, NOSDRAMA at all; instead, this is an album of slow melodic songs intertwined with light and upbeat quirk riffs. Its claims to ‘darkness’ are vastly over-exaggerated. All being said, NOSDRAMA did still put together a pretty nice album with "Gravity". What you get is lighter Progressive Metal or Rock mixed with rare METALLICA-esque vocal moments - and a whole lot of adjective-ripe poetry. Ari Niemi is an excellent vocalist who just about carries the entire album on his shoulders – with the remarkable ability to sound like James Hetfield of METALLICA at will. Sadly the rest of the instruments are very down mixed, sort of acting as guidelines to the mood NOSDRAMA is trying to create on "Gravity" rather than anything along the lines of assisting musical voices. Not to say there aren’t any solos, there are quite a few, and they are all very good – just not loud enough to make the impact required. I suppose, in the end, this is expected for such a soft album. You aren’t going to find anything to hate on "Gravity", it just isn’t particularly ‘Gothic’ or ‘dark’. It is still great music though, very good if considered Progressive. Review by "Keith Joshua" (www.metal-temple.com).

RATING:  7.5 / 10

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