BARREN EARTH — Curse of the Red River (review)

BARREN EARTH — Curse of the Red River album cover Album · 2010 · Melodic Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
Pekka
The Finnish metal super group Barren Earth debuted in 2009 with the respectable Our Twilight EP, and 2010 saw the release of their debut full length album Curse of the Red River. Their EP consisted of four tracks of melodic death metal with epic prog tendencies, and on the album the tendencies are expanded into a significant factor in the music.

One does only need to listen to the opening title track with its shifts from deathy verses to cleaner soaring choruses to an intricate-yet-super heavy instrumental section to an acoustic passage complete with a gorgeous flute solo to see that this is not a one trick band. While some comparisons can be drawn at times to for example Opeth or Type O Negative, they are only spices thrown in their very original cooking. The cherry on top of this cake of great musicians is Kasper Mårtenson whose piano gets a lot of space even in the heavier sections, not to mention the various softer parts of pure beauty, and who brings a lot of vintage prog spirit with his flying keyboard solos, naturally in addition to choosing just the right tones to enhance the mood of each section.

It could be said that both of the Mårtenson composed pieces, Forlorn Waves and the Ritual of Dawn are album highlights, but that brings out the problem of how many tracks can one name as highlights. The brightest of them all might be the only track composed by guitarist Janne Perttilä, Flicker, which has some of the most brutal and most beautiful parts of the album in perfect harmony, and even some very balalaika sounding guitar work during the instrumental section. The most prolific composer of the group is the ex-Amorphis bassist Olli-Pekka Laine, who brings in four tracks, from which especially the aforementioned opening title track, co-composed by Kreator guitarist Sami Yli-Sirniö, and the fast paced, quite rocking The Leer deserve an affectionate special mention.

The best new metal album I've heard in a long while, absolutely recommendable for friends of progressive death metal. The final half star is only a matter of standing the test of time.
Share this review

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Deviance Deathcore
ASHES INTO BLOOD
Buy this album from MMA partners
Equilibrium Atmospheric Sludge Metal
BESRA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tension Between Rot And Genesis Sludge Metal
ANTHESIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Recycle Brain Crust Punk
C.P.G
Buy this album from MMA partners
Cartography Of The Mind Deathcore
TETHERED
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us