MALEFISTUM – Enemy
- Posted on 01-05-2020
The entity named MalefistuM, which is the brainchild of Dawn of Destiny guitarist Jens Faber, dabbles in symphonic power metal that leans toward Swedish melodic (death) metal and Finnish goth metal to some extent. The promotional material that accompanied the promo lists acts ala Dark Tranquility, Ensiferum, and Nightwish as reference points and musical parallels – and for once I totally agree with assessment.
There are plenty of interesting ideas to this release and many of those thick and epic riffs that permeate the music are worthy of note, but it often feels as if the various elements and parts do not quite flow together or enhance each other as well as they ought to do, which is pretty damn frustrating. For instance, I applaud the idea of having different vocalists appear on the disc and the alternation between grandiose female vocals and growled male vocals, but whereas the female ones work well in the overall setting, the male ones often leave something to be desired and lack character and conviction. Like I said, I dig contrasts and so on, but in this case it simply does not work. Many of the arrangements are pretty good and there are plenty of subtle details, nuances, and shifts in the music to keep it interesting some of the time, but in the overall perspective it lacks cohesion and coherence in terms of quality and depth. Things do turn a bit pompous at times and the somewhat darkly romantic aspects of the album are a tad clichéd. The production is good and the prominent use of keyboards works well too and add some cool textures to the compositions, but very few of these pieces truly ever take off and none of them reach those heights that I was hoping they would. On top if that, the lyrics are too run-of-the-mill and unoriginal. The strongest and most memorable tunes are the aggressive and fast-paced “The Seed in Your Life” (er, not really sure how awesome the title is though!) ” and the instantly catchy “Adore Me” – both of which possess a great flow and a suitable amount of bombast. The dreadful “Atomic Bomb” is unarguably the low point here where absolutely nothing works, be it the Eastern-tinged melodies, the awful riffs, or the horribly annoying vocals.
In terms of melancholic atmospherics and cinematic drama, “Enemy” does have something to offer and it is not without its merits (especially in terms of melodies and clever song arrangements), but it is an uneven affair that never quite manages to suck the listener in and it is simply not as spellbinding, riveting, or emotionally stirring as it could have been. Still, it will be interesting to see what musical roads these guys will travel down next and I am looking forward to the follow-up to this one as there is plenty of potential to be found on “Enemy”.