Confession
The Long Way Home

Upside down walking MOR-band Confession are back with their second studio album, which is released this time by Lifeforce but it was released by another label in the latter half of 2011 but that might have been in other places than Europe. Anyway, this album follows their debut which was released in 2009 and called Cancer which of course is how good it was, as getting Cancer. Well, it might have been but I don’t know as I have never heard it. I have read a few reviews however and those seem to indicate that this album is quite a big progression from the Cancer album much like a tumour might progress into bone cancer. One thing I can say before moving into the musical side though is that the album has quite a dull looking cover and also logo, not something that makes you stop and take notice. It is an album that I have seen quite a few reviews of with ratings raving from the middle score to quite positive reviews, one reviewer for instead said that this album was heavier than a sack of bricks which probably means that it is a very weak person as a CD does not weigh hun-dreds of grams.

Musically it is aggressive, heavy, energetic, but also melodic and the singer is alternating screaming growls and clear vocals in a way that is quite typical of the genre. The fact is that the entire album feels quite typical of the metalcore oriented rock genre or MOR as it is often called. The production by swedish master producer Fredrik Nordström is top notch and does not detract from the heavy yet melodic soundscape the band decides to paint with this album. The subtle but present synths is a touch that might be rather hard to notice but it is always there, that sound adds a depth to this band that would not have been able to accomplish without that subtle synth sound they have. It can be said to be an assault on your eardrums and it is one that lasts for eleven tracks and little over half an hour, and thanks to the short playing time this album also maintains a sense of being rather varied which of course often otherwise is a problem for many bands in the genre.

It is clearly not as bad as bone cancer which is a positive. It does not make you vomit which is another positive. A third positive might be that it ends before getting boring. But I think it is quite good actually, far from fantastic but still worthy of a listen if you like the genre. I think it is an album that has some interesting stuff like those great and subtle synths that adds so much to this album and prevents it from being just another I think. Sure there are many things to improve with this album, but at the same time there are many things that goes well and the catchy yet melodic MOR of Confession are quite good in their creation of a very fascinating and quite good album.

In the end I think this album works quite well, it is catchy, it is melodic, it has some nice layers that might take you a while to notice and all in all it becomes one of the approved album. It feels a little too typical to reach for the higher ratings, it is also not good enough for anything higher than a four. If I could have gotten some of the energy they show in the music right now it would not have been so difficult to finish this review. But in the end I would say that they confess well and that the way home might not be as long as they might assume.