It’s always interesting when musicians decide to change lanes and do something completely different to what they have previously been known for. Guitarist Andreas ‘Dea’ Karlsson from death metal outfits Paganizer and Ribspreader is the backbone and mastermind of the new Swedish outfit Another Life which professes to play progressive metal. With the help of the renowned Dan Swanö (production and keyboards) and Per Fransson (lead guitars) their debut Memories From Nothing has turned out to be quite a solid dose of metal.
The album kicks off with the fast paced Falling Apart with some nice chops backed by Swanö’s keyboards and a sing along friendly chorus. This is followed up by The End of Days that sounds as if it might have been a B-side to Draconian Times by Paradise Lost except for the quite brilliant bluesy middle part/solo.
After a mid paced interlude in the shape of the rather forgettable The Last Goodbye the pace is picked up again, and the album continues in rather the same vein for the remaining six tracks: Fast paced, power metal-ish tracks with upbeat choruses and melody lines interspersed with tracks that are heavier and more atmospheric.
The production is tight, the sound full and every instrument stands out clearly in the mix – cudos to Swanö for a job well done. Especially lead guitar man Per Fransson lays down some great solo work on many tracks (such as I Am Nothing) and thus contributes to the overall sense that this album is the work of competent people.
However, the singing of main man Andreas Karlsson leaves something to be desired, and his shortcomings are particularly evident on the intro part of The Last Goodbye (not a pleasant experience at all), although he struggles through most of the quieter parts on the album. Most of the time he sounds like a strained hybrid between Nick Holmes (Paradise Lost), Zak Stevens (Circle II Circle) and Jyrki (The 69 Eyes), that is, a bombastic and dramatic delivery tinged with a typically Swedish/Finnish accent.
Although many of the tracks do sound very much akin to something that might have been released by Paradise Lost during their One Second/Draconian Times era (The End of Days, Firstborn Unicorn, Everlasting and Poltava in particular) I wouldn’t go so far as to call Another Life a poor man’s Paradise Lost as there is a fair share of original elements as well. But on the whole this album becomes a bit too uniform and forgettable and I repeatedly find myself wishing that another (more proficient) singer would step up to the mike.
However, some might find the similarity to Nick Holmes more appealing than I do, so do give Memories From Nothing a spin if you see it somewhere out there. Also, it should be noted that this release includes a bonus CD with demos and newly recorded acoustic tracks (my demo only contained the first disc, the actual album).
Recommended listening: The End of Days, Everlasting, Poltava
