I got a huge promo pack from Vic Records the other day, an early Christmas present obviously since it included a few glimmering gems such as Arkona. Aside from all the eastern European records I got, a bunch of CDs by Swedish bands arrived. Sweden is known for their quality metal. The progressive metal scene is no exception, consisting of bands such as Seventh Wonder, Cloudscape, Nightingale, Lost Horizon and counting. Another Life is yet another melancholic swedish prog/power metal band featuring the guitarist, Andreas “Dea” Karlsson , of death metallers Paganizer. They were signed to Vic Records in early 2005, and have released two demos which featured mastermind Dan Swanö among others. This is their debut album, and they released it in 2007.

Before I had even read the credits, I knew who produced this. This totally reeks of Dan Swanô. If you know his band Nigthingale and their somewhat mighty sound, you know what I’m talking about. The huge, almost majestic guitars are coupled with smoothly executed moody keyboard work and the deep rumbling of Andreas Karlsson. Rhythmically, August Lengquist (Drums) and Andreas Ottosson (Bass) does a steady job without exaggerating. When I first spun this, I thought for a while that Swanô himself stood for the guitar work. However, to my surprise Fredrik Petterson is more than capable of creating a killer solo or nine. For if something is sticking out, it is certainly the excellent guitar-playing. The leads lift the songs to a whole different level. His tone is thick, and his technique is polished. Although this isn’t outstanding in any particular way, his dedication and emotive playing makes this sound a little more compelling than the average prog/power guitarist. On the other hand, for my part at least, the vocal work brings down what the guitars so firmly establish. They’re definitely the weakest spot on Memories of Nothing, and even though they seem a little fitting for the dark and depressive mood, it just doesn’t work properly for me. Vocals in the lower octaves just don’t go along well with prog/power metal, unless you really know how to combine it. This sounds incredibly dull, and generates just about no energy at all. The vocalist actually sound downright bored, which is not good at all. He sings clean and all that, it’s just that the energy level is so low it doesn’t give you anything. And with lulling vocals comes incredibly stupid lyrics. I mean: “Just like the firstborn unicorn”. That’s reminding me of a TV-show my baby cousin loves to watch. I think it’s called My Little Pony , or something. Not good. Not good at all.

Despite the dull vocal work, his is n fact a rather enjoyable album once you’ll eventually accept it. This is catchy and the overall quality of the songs is pretty good. The production job is as expected. I’ve got nothing on my mind to point my finger at, and Swanö definitely knows his way around a studio. Karlsson got lots to work on when it comes to vocals, he is however the mastermind behind this, and if he’s pleased with them, I don’t think they’ll change in any particular way. Not even if they’re getting in the way of the stellar song-writing. All in all, the vocals keep this from being great. You should look into this if you’re a fan of Swanö, and in this case his work with Nightingale.