Meadows End
Sojourn

A sojourn amongst the end of the meadows, that is what we are getting from this Swedish band called Meadows End. It is their third album for which they have gathered songs from demos and EPs from the period between 1999 and 2006, songs they figured were to good to just rot away in the grass of their meadows. So they rearranged and rerecorded these songs during 2015 and the end result was this album called Sojourn.

Melodic death metal is probably the label that fits this style of music best, sort of in a Gothenburg style but with a lower and perhaps also more varied tempo. They offer a strong dynamic between the dark extreme metallic and the more light and melodic. They are also using their keyboards a lot which is the main reason for this melodic touch that very nicely intersect with their death metal style. I think they have found a fairly fresh approach and they certainly have managed to vary their album quite a bit, perhaps thanks to the fact that the songs are gathered from several releases – the long playing time of over an hour doesn’t even feel that long, certainly a strong point for the album.

There aren’t any weak points of this album, not even the very long playing time. I think that the album is a very strong album on all points. They even manage to sound fresh in a genre that is best described as tired and old. The strongest part of the album is how they balance the melodic with the death metallic elements, although it may not appeal to the death metal purists – but I don’t really care what they think and I think this album is great. It has great depth, variation and melodies. As already stated, this is a great album that I can recommend to anyone enjoying exciting and interesting extreme metal.

There are thirteen tracks on this album, they show great variation and depth – and I cannot really see any weakness amongst these tracks. Though, neither can see any track really standing out as a really strong hit song, although all the tracks are so good that it doesn’t quite matter and it is almost like any one track can be considered to be near a hit song on its own and that of course makes this a real hit album. Maybe this great album can bring this band from the underground and into the limelight, it is certainly good enough to merit both recognition and success. Meadows End has certainly made a strong album here, it is highly recommended.

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