Well here we are again, another week, another melodic death metal release! This Ending is a newly formed band from Sweden, although the members had previously released a couple albums as a band called A Canorous Quintet in the mid to late 90s. They reformed as This Ending in 2005 and have released one album so far, 2006’s Inside The Machine, which got a decent review on this very website. I had never heard any of their past work and I put this on thinking it was going to be another modern, sub-par attempt at melodic death metal. Fortunately I was wrong.

First thoughts – not a big fan of the vocals or the way the guitar sounds in the mix, it feels a bit weak and a little too fuzzy to me, but that's just my personal opinion. The music is pretty heavy; I like the song structure of the first track even though it isn't very original. The next song Parasites goes in much the same direction. However the next song, Machinery, ended up being one of my favorites. It starts out a bit different, somewhat more melodic, reminding me of God Dethroned. The guitar soloing is very well done and the lyrics to this song are also pretty good. The next few tracks continue in this vein, successfully mixing melody and aggression. These guys seem to have mixed 90s old school death metal influences with some more modern melodic stuff and it works out well. Their influences are pretty obvious, but in this sense it is not necessarily a bad thing, as they manage to create some really great and original sounding songs. The next song that caught my attention is the title track. It starts out with the by now very familiar quick drumming and fuzzy guitar riffs, followed by the growled vocals of Mårten Hansen, which I am slowly warming up to. The second half of the song gets really good with some interesting guitar work and at the very end we hear some almost clean vocals that actually sound pretty good. Another one of my favorite tracks on the album is Deathtrade, which starts out with another interesting, melancholic guitar lead that sounds like something from an Agalloch or Rapture song. The vocals also get a bit more interesting with Hansen mixing it up and using more of a shouting style at some times and using a higher pitched growl at others.

This Ending could certainly be a leader in the genre if they would release something a bit more original the next time around. Nevertheless, even though this album does not push the boundaries of the genre, it is a solid release. I would love to hear these guys explore their sound a bit more, and with so much experience under their belts I am sure they could sound awesome playing just about anything.