Black Therapy
Echoes of Dying Memories

These Italians offer an alternative form of therapy, the black therapy and it comes in the form of music. This is the third album they offer and it brings up echoes of dying memories. They have put a nice cover onto this newest album and as they are compared with some giants of the melodic death metal genre it is easy to believe that they are in the same league as them, although label comparisons rarely hit the mark fully. But they did get one ten out of ten review, although the source of that review is not really reliable as they think most albums are fantastic, there were some decent reviews for the album as well and that is more akin to what we think.

Melodic death metal is the style and you could compare them to names like Insomnium, Dark Tranquility, In Flames and others. Although perhaps less so when it comes to the creative aspects as those bands often offer something that sets them apart while Black Therapy seems to be satisfied to stay inside the box and not really think outside it. They do offer typical melodic death metal with strong sound, strong melodies, catchy choruses, growly vocals, you know the kind you often get from many bands subscribing to this category, it is a really solid production and could be something from the early days of In Flames or Hypocrisy. You can namedrop many bands, as they don’t really stand apart or offer anything really new; it is nothing we haven’t already heard.

The variation is decent and the depth quite fine, the songs are good and I think that the album overall is quite good. The weakness is the lack of fresh ideas and elements that could make it stand apart from the many other bands that populate the melodeath subgenre. If you notice them, you will like them – but you will probably not remember them too long as there are more interesting artists and albums within this genre. But if you like the melodic death metal you should have a look at this album, they press the right buttons to make a solid album that will not disappoint whoever hears it.

Good but not fantastic, that has to be the logical conclusion to the review of Echoes of Dying Memories. It is a really solid death metal album that is pretty entertaining to listen to and never really bad, but perhaps a doubtful purchase as there are many albums that are much better and if you, like myself, have a limited budged for buying albums there are better alternatives to go for in the genre. Unless you need some kind of dark therapy, then it might be a good choice for you.

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