Enbound – And She Says Gold

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Another day, another new melodic metal band from Sweden. Enbound have been around for a few years now, but have taken their time producing their debut album And She Says Gold. It’s more or less what we’ve come to expect from a typical Swedish hard rock/melodic metal band. Good melodies, a not spectacular but fairly capable singer, some heavy guitar and some good rock’n'roll spirit. Whilst the band have apparently tried to create something special, And She Says Gold really doesn’t have anything new to say. Rather, it more or less goes through the melodic metal template and ticks all the boxes. Oh sure, perhaps it doesn’t quite fit into either the hard rock or power metal niches, but it still doesn’t feel that unique. There’s a heavy element, not too much to alienate those who don’t like things a bit fast and dangerous but just enough to sound like it has an edge. There’s soft ballads as you’d expect also – and some, like The Broken Heart, are outright insipid – again not exactly surprising. It’s mostly done well however – and one can’t deny that it is performed by a talented band, with a good measure of good tunes such as Combined The Souls and Me And Desire. However, it neither comes across as innovate nor as particularly exciting within the confines of its own genre. The album simply comes across as a safe, harmless example of Swedish melodic metal. Incredibly harmless, incredibly inoffensive – easy enough on the ears but never really engaging. If the band were intending on something special, they most certainly failed, but it is enjoyable nonetheless.

Written by James Donovan
More: 2011, Albums, Power Metal, Quick.Play Reviews, Enbound