Review by Denis on March 11, 2003.

A new band for me but "Fangorn" is actually the third album from Fangorn since their beginning in 1994. Recorded at the Digidirt Studio in Dresden (Germany) this release presents the end result of hard work from these talented musicians: Hardy and Grit on vocals, Robert on drums, Marten and Daniel sharing the guitar duties, Sylke on bass.

For a while, it seemed that all metal coming from Germany was power with high pitch male vocals. Well, I'm thrilled by this album since it's everything but that! There's some power stuff but forget the high pitch male thing. No instead you have a very interesting blend of just about any kind of metal with a combination of death male vocals vs. angelic female singer. A thrilling and tasty recording thus variety is the essence of Fangorn. You'll be unable to find two songs similar and by a very intelligent use of complex writing, no songs stay the same from beginning to end. Be on the lookout for frequent shifting in the mood and pace. Perfect vocals for the compositions are as changing as the songs require it so you'll get scary death, screams, spoken words, beautiful or haunting female vocals to accompany musical structures fluctuating from Death to Gothic or Doom, then Prog and at times some Power passages are also included. Looks like boredom was eradicated from these guys' musical dictionary!

Bottom Line: Truly an experience to be had by all!

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 8.5
Atmosphere: 9
Originality: 9
Production: 8.5
Overall: 8.5

Rating: 8.7 out of 10

Review by Allan on November 4, 2002.

You’ve got to love it when you just stumble across a remarkable band when you weren’t even expecting it. It is even better when that band is still young, only then releasing their debut album. That’s what happened to me with Suicide Note, and their new debut album "You’re Not Looking So Good". Let me let you in on a little secret: metal-core rarely sounds this good.

Musically, one could classify Suicide Note as falling somewhere in between the sounds of the mighty Zao and some form of emo and punk. Suicide Note also show signs of being influenced by "Until Your Heart Stops"-era Cave In. However, around ninety percent of Suicide Note’s music is most closely related to the hardcore field.

When I went back to listen to "You’re Not Looking So Good" for a second time, the first thing that I noticed was that somehow the music seemed so familiar. I realized that it’s because Suicide Note have the ability to write some amazingly catchy riffs that don’t sacrifice even one shred of dignity. If you’re thinking it might be because the melodies on this album are basic and simple, I can assure they aren’t. Suicide Note just have that extra touch that pushes them a long way.

Suicide Note isn’t only bound to great melodies. They make an excellent connection with raw emotion in their songs. They somehow make something as primitive as anger seem deep, when most of the time it’s just caused by some act of barbarianism. Even the manic screams of Casey Donley fit the energy of the songs so well and seem to carry some form of semblance, not being there for the sake of being heavy. Listening to Suicide Note, you can somehow tell that when they play their music they put themselves into it one hundred percent.

Throughout the thirty minutes of "You’re Not Looking So Good", Suicide Note rips their way through so many different ideas. The composition abilities are good though, so you won’t be exposed to any cut and paste riffing. While the album follows the general theme of being intense and heavy, melody is abound everywhere on this album, from the extreme side of it to the times when Suicide Note splice in some clean vocals and clean guitars. The last thing to be aware of when it comes to Suicide Note is that you better be prepared for some whip lash, because there is no way that someone can avoid the grooves of songs like ‘Reno and Blood,’ ‘Amputee Supermodel,’ or ‘Come On Fuck Me’.

Bottom Line: The reason I can enjoy the over-saturated metal-core scene is because of bands like Suicide Note.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Originality: 7
Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 7
Overall: 8

Rating: 7.4 out of 10