This Ending’s debut album "Inside The Machine" (2006) came out back in the time when I was high on all things Dark Tranquillity and, by extension, all things melodic death metal (melodeath for short). The album was unashamedly borrowing from Gothenburg trio (At The Gates, In Flames, Dark Tranquillity) as well as from Soilwork, Hypocrisy and, especially, Ammon Amarth or Evocation, but their approach was unique, their ability to marry the melodic and the deathly seemingly impeccable so it was an instant hit for me. Ear candy such as "Seed Of Destruction", "Pitch Black", "Lidless Eyes", the Behemoth-ian "Let The World Burn" or the haunting title track were heard continuosly from my car stereo. However, I hadnt been quite as impressed with the subsequent "Dead Harvest" (2009), likely because it was different and did not simply repeat the successful formula, so I completely ignored "Garden Of Death" (2016), both mistakes remedied prior to sampling this new, the 4th album, for review. It turned out I was wrong for dismissing This Ending as a one album wonder and "Needles Of Rust" is yet another worthy achievement in their excellent discography.

This Ending (the name possibly intended also to sound like "descending"?) may have formed in 2006 but their roots are firmly in melodeath classicism, as A Canorous Quartet born in 1991, through a name change to A Conorous Quintet in 1993 (to reflect the changing line-up) and eventual disbanding 6 years later. Mårten Hansen (vocals) (ex-October Tide), Linus Nirbrant (guitars, vocals) (Darkened), Leo Pignon (guitars-2014), Jesper Löfgren (bass-2014), and Fredrik Andersson (drummer-2020) (ex-Amon Amarth) then formed The Plague rechristened This Ending in 2006 right before the debut album, "Inside The Machine". The aforementioned follow-ups, "Dead Harvest" and "Garden Of Death", each unique yet firmly melodeath, brought line-up changes whereby Löfgren and Pignon left replaced by former A Canarous Quintet bassist Linus Pettersson and drummer Fredrik Andersson, the latter later replaced by Peter "Draakh Kimera" Nagy-Eklöf (ex-Mörk Gryning) also of A Canorous Quintet descent. This Ending seemed to have been simply shuffling through former band bandmates so no wonder A Canorous Quintet saw reactivation in 2016 giving you another double deal in metal akin to Insomnium/Omnium Gatherum.

As in former times, This Ending proudly waves the classical melodeath flag on "Needles Of Rust". The album is varied, superbly recorded, written and executed with great attention paid to every detail and so there are no bad tracks. We are left with personal taste as to catchiness or melodiscism but the so aptly titled opener "My Open Wound" is easily one of the most vicious and brutal songs in This Ending’s phonography, one which walks a very fine line between black and death metal, which is not to say that it’s not catchy or memorable, however it ends with a riff very similar to Caliban’s "Long Kiss Goodbye". "Embraced By the Night" and "Eclipse Of The Dead" both hearken back to the debut with that same results, but it is the fabulous title track, which echoes Dark Tranquillity’s "Lethe" (from the landmark 1995 "The Gallery" album) and the stylings of the sadly defunct and dearly missed Enforsaken which is the crown jewel of the record and that main riff will not leave your head for days. Indeed, the latter half is, overall, noticeably better and more captivating, with the, again, strongly Dark Tranquillitian closer "Hell To Hell" another perfect melodeath anthem you won’t soon forget.

Flaws are few and far between and one of them is the aforementioned inequality between halves. The second one is that precisely ONE track, ironically named "Annihilate", seems a little undercooked and too, er, mellow, in comparison, but none of it shall take away more than 1 point. Get it if you liked the debut and/or any of the follow-ups, and, if you like Gothenburg that’s not derivative, this is a must.

https://facebook.com/ThisEndingband/