Stephen
Try picturing Within Temptation, Nightwish, and Evanescence collaborating in an album, the result is pretty much what described in One Without's second release, 'Sweet Relief'. The female shouter with an occasional growl, the sensible pop touch on each taunting guitar's distortion, and the symphonic power element on the rhythm, making this record a paradise for gothic metal fans. The modern and refreshing sound also make sure that the band isn't reverted back to the 90s, and that's good news especially when they want a younger audience that's been listening to the likes of Lacuna Coil or My Dying Bride.
Seventeen tracks might be a good bargain for a disc but actually this is a risky move since if you can't decide at least 10 or 11 strong tracks, the album might fall short to a mediocre release, but luckily, while there are traces of average tunes, I think there are several winners here such as 'Souls of Thousands', 'Spit It Out', 'Nothing To You', 'Burned Once Again', and 'Pretender'. Many other potential tracks that if only the invested more time to carefully reinvent the songs will probably be as good as the champion such as 'Forget Your Pride', 'Persistent', or 'Burning With Your Hopes And Dreams'.
Catrin Feymark's enchanting vocal is an opposite to Kenny Boufadene's furious growl, a beautiful complementary to the finely crafted music but compressing the album to only 10 strong tracks will probably be a better move for them, but nevertheless, 'Sweet Relief' is definitely a solid cheering effort and hard to imagine gothic or symphonic metal fans won't like this.