Norther – Circle Regenerated

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Poor Norther. It’s one thing to be a major successful band and be shunned – if you’re making money who cares? Finland’s Norther though aren’t quite in that league and yet seem to get a terrible amount of stick. Why is that though? Norther after all produce a unique blend of power metal and melodeath with a slightly cold, icy touch to the production. Well, at least it would be unique if there wasn’t another, much more famous band doing the exact same thing. The comparisons with Children of Bodom are something Norther can’t seem to shake, and it really isn’t good for them no matter which way you look at it. On one side, people love Children of Bodom – so from this view point, Norther seem like the less capable version, with less guitar wizardry and lower quality production. Let’s be honest too – even though Bodom’s recent output has been questionable, they still have much better songs. On the other side, people hate Children of Bodom – and of course Norther get the same grief by association. Woe to be Norther – they just can’t win. The comparisons are perhaps a bit unfair though, as Circle Regenerated does show, though this doesn’t necessarily change it from being the work of a much less talented band. Circle Regenerated feels like a much more pure hybrid of power metal and melodeath, especially with Kristian Ranta providing clean vocals alongside new singer Aleksi Sihvonen (who sounds… well, like a weaker Alexi Laiho). However Kristian’s voice isn’t exactly stunning – it’s an afterthought at best – and feels muddied in the production. In fact, just about everything about this record feels muddied and blurred – the guitars in particular sound strangely distant when not in solo-mode and lack a solid punch to them. The whole record seems to be very poorly mixed, which doesn’t help what appears to be a very lacklustre set of songs in the first place. Norther might be dutifully trying to pave their own way, but they never manage to prove themselves, sounding okay at best. If Norther are to get out of the shadow of their fellow Finns, then they really need to produce better records than this.

Written by James Donovan
More: 2011, Albums, Death Metal, Quick.Play Reviews, Norther