Review by Emma on April 14, 2009.

Ethereal Collapse offers an album that is as tight, clean and well run as a first world hospital. It also has all the soul and personality of a hospital. To begin, the album artwork is misleading about what is actually in store for the listener. Popping in Ethereal Collapse’s "Breaching The Citadel" in without a second glance I expected something rather doom and gloom. I know, don’t judge a book by its cover, but seriously, the monochromatic Gothic architecture suggests and entirely different kind of sound and attitude than what Ethereal Collapse actually offers. Alas, I was instead greeted with a bad case of cookie cutter melodic Death Metal. There is a little bit of Thrash heard here and there, but most of it screams Soilwork. I’ll start off on the positive points here. For a self-released album this is very well produced. I’d say that is one of the strongest points of the album altogether. The drums are a bit distracting in the opening track ‘A Tragedy Divine’ But otherwise I have no qualms with it. All the songs have a solid structure and none of them I would call boring. But there is just way too much sweep picking for my taste. It’s in every song to the point of being overwhelming! The vocals are also too close to hardcore for comfort. When it really comes down to the entire sound of Ethereal Collapse, ‘neatly packaged’ is the description that struck me. The sound has been so tightly bound in plastic wrap that any characteristics distinguishing this band have been squeezed out. The lyrics are equally lacking in flavor. ‘A Tragedy Divine’ is about ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ which the writer bothered to explain to the audience just in case we couldn’t figure it out. Of all the classic epic tales of love out there to choose, ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is the most rehashed of them that Hollywood (and the public school system) has taken under its wing. The rest of the lyrics also start to dabble in ‘deep subjects’ but don’t make a convincing argument. Altogether "Breaching the Citadel" isn’t a badly done album, fans of Soilwork, In Flames, and Dragonforce will get a kick out of it, but there isn’t anything here I would return to.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship:5
Atmosphere:4.5
Production:7
Originality:2
Overall: 6

Rating: 4.9 out of 10