Review by Szymon on December 31, 2019.

Gregor Mackintosh apparently liked the sounds of forging old-school death metal very much since just after burying Vallenfyre founded a new band.

I must admit that I like all those death metal side projects, carried out by the sad men from Paradise Lost. I like them even more because of the high level of "Medusa" which indicated that their mother band also benefited from the side games of Nick Holmes and Gregor Mackintosh. Of the two, Gregor seems to be more productive one. When, after three solid albums, the presumed expiration date of Vallenfyre arrived, the guitarist did not wait long to form a new band.

Mackintosh formed Strigoi together with bassist Chris Casket who once scrolled through the lineup of Extreme Noise Terror, he also toured with, you guessed it, Vallenfyre. Drum parts on the debut album were played and recorded by drummer of Paradise Lost (and, what a surprise, Vallenfyre), Waltteri Väyrynen, who did a splendid job. This way, everything stayed in the family. Mackintosh and Casket also co-produced the material, while sound wizard Kurt Ballou, who also worked on the last two Vallenfyre albums was responsible for the mix. The result is superbly legible, and at the same time still distinct and natural death metal sound of Abandon All Faith.

The key to the album's success is compositions. Strigoi is, of course, a natural continuation of the path chosen by Vallenfyre, which is clearly heard on several levels, especially when you consider the 2017 "Fear Those Who Fear Him". However, while the death and doom metal mix performed by the project preceding Strigoi sometimes tended to silt up one-dimensional gloomy tracks, Abandon All Faith brings a whole range of new (and better!) ideas. Short tracks are nothing new to Mackintosh, but the less than two-minute "Nocturnal Vermin" brings unprecedented, almost d-beat power, boosted by slightly industrial reverb and carried by furious work of drums. Even shorter "Throne of Disgrace" was built according to the best canons of classic British death metal, and equally good things happen in the lively "Seven Crowns". There is more life here, more energy, and the head is eager for headbanging.

At the other extreme end are equally successful, long-lasting, doom rollers - "Carved Into The Skin" and the closing album, epic and bone crumbling "Abandon All Faith". They are a great counterweight to the rest of the material, constructed around catchy, though free from all sweetness, death metal. The best example of this could be single material "Phantoms" or the equally unique "Plague Nation". I have always liked the sound of Mackintosh guitar, who can smuggle his unique style not only in Paradise Lost, but also in more underground playing, which can be heard perfectly in Strigoi. One cannot fail to mention the industrial inclusions heard here and there, previously announced in the interviews, which, although they only play the role of additional flavors, work very well, for example, in "Parasite" or in the title track mentioned above.

All these ideas make up an extremely appetizing mix. Abandon All Faith remains in the drawer of death / doom playing, but it is neither as raw nor as gloomy as Vallenfyre, whose formula along with the third album began to run out. The creation of the new team apparently allowed Mackintosh to gain some distance and catch the wind in the sails again, which came out good for Strigoi. This is one of the best albums of the past year, not only in the debut category.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Review by Death8699 on August 22, 2019.

This one I actually got after Broken Crown Halo, their newest because I really enjoyed the music on that one. Here, there's maybe a little bit less of Cristina, but it's still a quality album altogether. I'd say this one is a mix between alternative/gothic metal all into one. I don't think that I'm misinformed in assessing that for this one, what matters as always are not just the lyrics, but the music. I can't say that this is overly heavy guitar-wise, though I do think that they tune uniquely to maintain the "metal" sound, but the tempos here aren't fast at all. My belief is that they never really want or wanted to sound overly heavy, they're more attuned to a quest of epic glory. The music here exemplifies that.

Lacuna Coil's concept in songwriting is such that they want the vocals to match the music. On here, you have that concept in action, not saying that this is a "concept album", just reiterating the fact that their strategy is to be fitting. There are 2 vocalists in this band and there were about the same amount of amount of male voice with of Cristina still in the spotlight though. I only say this because on a whole, her voice carries so well as it's clean and absolutely beautiful. Male vocals keep the harder sound of musical core and keep it heavier sounding. I admire both vocalists, though Cristina has one voice that's so translucent it glows with every word sung -- that's how she comes off to me.

Not to get too much into the sub-genres or genres in general -- as Chuck Schuldiner said, "metal is metal." There is a definite groove/vibe to this album that draws the listener into the music. The use of keyboards is prevalent though they don't drown out the music. There is a sort of reverb sound to this release -- it must've been the mixing/production effects of it. It flows throughout the album. I would suffice to say here that Dark Adrenaline is a little bit of a less of a heavier sound to it than their latest -- I think that they experimented a lot with different mixtures of the guitars, keys, vocals and overall consistency. They grab me on every tune, though I think you have to love a lot of genres of metal to like this.

I firmly disagree with a lot of ratings out there -- I think a lot of what's been writing in disdain for the importance of what they created here was lacking in the album scores. Just because it's slow, it's still metal to me and upbeat. They have this essence to their tone and the album captured that. Again, not to get into lyrical concepts, but their words definitely match what they create musically. A feel, a melody, a groove, a mix of all of these really captures their core concept. It seems like an overall effort by each musician on here, they really delve into a deep array of guitars and the music itself in unison. I think that Cristina puts in the most heart to her voice spoken or sung, she's the core.

I'd say that there were a lot of songs on here that I liked, if not all of them. Remember, this isn't an overly heavy album, just the guitars are down-tuned for thickness, but there's a lot more vocals both male and female that you have to suit your musical pallet to like the songs. I believe that this band has a lot longer career than most metal bands because they play not for heaviness for the sake of heaviness, they're more of a groove-laden band even though they do fall under those 2 sub-genres. Pick this up to support the band and metal, it does a lot of justice!

Rating: 8 out of 10