UMUR
"Mesmerized" is the debut full-length studio album by Norwegian doom metal act Atrox. The album was released through Head Not Found Records in 1997.
The music style on "Mesmerized" is slow and melodic doomy metal mixed with post metal/rock elements. There are lots of lead guitar melodies which are the driving force in most of the tracks. There are both growling vocals and "clean" female singing. The female vocals by Monika Edvardsen are pretty sure to be an aquired taste though. Personally I think the vocals sound like Björk with a hangover combined with some middle eastern sounding notes like the singing style that Lisa Gerrard from Dead Can Dance practices. It´s safe to say that I´m not impressed. Actually the female vocals make the already cliché filled doom metal style on the album sound even less appealing.
The sound production is quite flat, powerless and lacks punch.
I try to dig out the positives on most albums that I review, but "Mesmerized" really hits the bottom with a bang. Had the female vocals not sounded as out of tune and weird for the sake of it I could be pursuaded into giving a 2 star (40%) rating for the instrumental side of the music but as the album is now I can´t give more than a 1 star (20%) rating. I find very few redeeming qualities about this album. I know the band have improved greatly on subsequent releases though, so I recommend seeking out those before purchasing "Mesmerized".
