UMUR
"Reborn Through Flames" is the fourth full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Centinex. The album was released through Repulse Records in July 1998. It´s the successor to "Reflections" from February 1997. There have been no linuep changes since the predecessor and Centinex have again opted not to recruit a human drummer. Bassist Martin Schulman have instead programmed the drums.
Stylistically the material on "Reborn Through Flames" pretty much takes off where the melodic old school death metal of "Reflections" ended, so other than a significantly better sounding production job, and maybe slightly more memorable, sharper, and melodic songwriting, "Reborn Through Flames" is in every way possible the natural successor to "Reflections". The higher quality production values unfortunately also makes it more apparent that the drums are programmed, which is a real shame, as it wasn´t an issue at all on "Reflections". It´s not a huge issue though, just an observation, which the reader deserves to know about.
It´s still Dismember which is the greatest influence on Centinex, but I hear other influences here too and a blackened melodic death metal act like Necrophobic could also be mentioned as an influence here. Upon conclusion "Reborn Through Flames" was arguably the best quality release from Centinex up until then. First of all because of the more professional sounding production values (the album was recorded & mixed at Sunlight Studios), but also because the songwriting has become more memorable. The muscianship is strong as ever so a 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating isn´t all wrong.