No Candelight. This is not good. This is bad, bad, bad and you are so naughty for putting out this nonsensical drivel alongside the new Obituary record, seriously, shame on you.

Funnily enough Hemlock are taking their influence from a time when Obituary were at the peak of their popularity (i.e. the mid 90s). References that come to mind are of course Machine Head, Sepultura, Fear Factory and a bit of grunge to. Sadly though Hemlock sound neither as ferocious as the Floridian legend or are able to conjure from the influences they absorb anything remotely good (it’s the grim ladies and gents), leaving one to wonder what exactly they are doing putting this album out today, it would have been better off on Century Media in 1998 (and would have sounded positively at home next to Skinlab).

Candlelight’s horrible promos have robbed me of song titles so I have to ambiguously refer to track 3, track 6 etc. Well, track 3 just screams everything that was wrong with mid to late 90s mainstream metal. It opens with a horrible grungey vocal line that recalls that dark era with such trepidation that I can’t believe there are bands still out there, willing and conceiving this kind of metal. The situation continues to degenerate on track 4, sacrilegiously raping those groundbreaking elements from Sepultura and purifying (more so putrefying) them of all the radiant essence that made them groundbreaking in the first place. From there on, the cringe worthy moments ameliorate and the chances of Hemlock saving any face depreciate, the saving grace is when Bleed The Dream, finally ends.

There’s little worth elaborating on what those elements are, we’ve all heard those horrible bands that were polluting the live circuits and releasing albums of egregious calibre back then, so the fact that bands of this ilk have become so scarce would evidently suggest that there is no need for a revival to begin.

But then again, what do I know we could be witnessing the beginning of the next retro ‘Kvlt’ trend?

I seriously hope not.

[Visit the band's website]

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