| Souls Highway
Reviews
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The Metals
Den
It’s with astonishment that I discovered
BESEECH's third album, not that their gothic metal style
is so uncommon but rather for the quality of the songs contained
in this « Souls Highway ».
These Swedes have well polished up their
brand by playing with technologies and sounds but also by
inspiring it a very accessible tone making the melodies
and choruses easy to remember. Without losing their metal
edge, their dark side is nevertheless exposed to a greater
scale and with titles like « Between the Lines »,
« Endless Waters » or again with their Abba
cover of « Gimme Gimme Gimme », I wouldn’t
be surprised of hearing such tracks played in less "underground"
medias.
As it’s becoming more and more of
a custom, BESEECH includes female vocals throughout the
album which eases the low register male vocals and this
effect is very appreciable on titles like « Blinded
» or « Sunset 28 ».
BESEECH acquires themselves a personal
but also a more opened style than many other gothic metal
bands notably with much more discreet guitars, which blends
in the musical symbiosis.
« Souls Highway » will
delight the fans of this style who waited for a band to
open a breach in this hermetic crenel and will be able to
take it towards other dimensions. Well, they’ve succeeded!
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Metal Only
This is all in all a very good
record.
Beseech originates from Borås and
consists of Erik Molarin (vocals), Lotta Höglin (vocals),
Klas Bohlin (guitar), Robert Spånglund (guitar), Mikael
Back (synth), Jonas Strömberg (drums) and Daniel Elofsson
(bass). Souls Highway is their third full length album.
For those that don't know the band they play gothic metal.
The songs are calm and harmonic. Some parallells can be
drawn to bands like Katatonia. Erik sings with a both dark
and deep voice, not far from Peter Steele's (Type o Negative)
voice, and a lighter voice. Lotta stands for the beautiful
female voice that mix well with the rest of the melody.
The synths has gotten a rather big role as ususal in gothic
metal, and Mikael handles them well.
Sunset 28 and Blinded are the most calm
songs on the album while Between the lines and Souls Highway
are part of the faster ones.
Between the lines is by the way my personal favourite on
the record. And especially the refrain is very good and
sticks in your head. I walked around humming the melody
the day after I bought the record. The only thing to complain
about is a strange noice in the refrain. It sounds just
like one of those dogtoys squeeling. If you listen to it
on low volume then it almost dissapears in the melody, but
on high volume you can't miss it.
The last song, Beyond the skies, is a long instrumental
outro and very atmospheric. Only drums and synths are used
which creates a feeling of peacefullness and loneliness.
All in all this is a very good record
and clearly worthy of buying if you like calm gothic metal.
Jan-Erik Nyman Metal
Only
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Chronicles
Of Chaos
This
is their best material so far
When you put Sweden and
metal together you usually think of old classic death metal
like Unleashed, Grave and Entombed, more melodic bands like
At the Gates, In Flames and others, and of course darker
ones like Marduk and Dark Funeral. The Swedish metal scene
of today is luckily a lot broader, something which may not
be seen so kindly by everyone. No matter what, there are
plenty of Swedish bands who have a lot to offer but still
haven't been given the attention they deserve. One of those
is gothic metal band Beseech, who have already released
three demos and two full-length albums. Even though I try
to follow the Swedish scene as much as possible, I must
admit that I haven't had a chance to listen to any of their
previous releases. Nevertheless, I am very confident that
this is their best material so far, and they have also signed
a new deal with my favorite metal label, Napalm Records.
The line-up has changed slightly since the last album, with
the addition of a new male vocalist, Erik Molarin, who has
a very deep, passionate voice which is very suitable for
this type of emotional metal that Beseech indulge in. It
also works very well in contrast with the female voice courtesy
of Lotta Hoglin. The music is atmospheric and melancholic
but still powerful, and I am glad to say that it is never
boring. There aren't many metal bands who use both clean
male and female vocals and manage to keep their music interesting.
Beseech is definitely one of the most promising bands within
their genre at the moment, and if you found the last couple
of releases from Tiamat and Moonspell as boring as I did,
then this is an album worthy of your attention. Also be
sure to get hold of the bonus track, which is a wonderful
cover version of the ABBA classic "Gimme Gimme Gimme".
by: Vincent Eldefors (8 out of 10)
www.chroniclesofchaos.com
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Harvest Moon Music
Souls Highway is one of the most
underexposed albums of 2002
First off, I have to say that Souls Highway
is one of the most underexposed albums of 2002. Beseech
has hovered on the fringes of the Goth Metal radar screen
for a few years without ever really drawing attention to
themselves. Then along comes Souls Highway and I'm asking
myself why they're not mentioned in the same breath as Lacuna
Coil, The Gathering, and Amorphis? This disc was a fixture
in my CD player for two weeks straight, and still gets a
turn almost daily. Sure, it's the Spring Equinox, but this
album is what I consider the perfect soundtrack to a crisp
autmun night spent in a candlelit room gazing out the window
upon the full moon.
Souls Highway, Beseech's third studio
album released by their third label, is a superb collection
of 10 melodious tales of dark romanticism. The sound presented
here is somewhat different than their previous efforts.
Former frontman Jorgen Sjolberg possessed a gritty baritone
that could be compared to Ville Laihiala of Sentenced. Erik
Molarin, who makes his debut on Souls Highway, has a deep
and delightfully sinister voice much akin to Peter Steele
of Type O Negative. While female vocals were a part of the
mix in the past, they tended to be treated more as an accentuation
than as an integral part of the melody. Lotta Hogin's part
has evolved on this release to comprise about half of the
vocal deliveries on the album. She's either providing a
magnificent compliment to Erik or she's taking the lead
- think Type O Negative with accompanying female harmonies.
Bessech has really hit upon a formula that works.
It's very hard for me to pick out one,
two, or even three songs to discuss for this review since
every single track is worthy of mention. I've described
the overall sound of the album, but every song introduces
some little nuance or slight shift to keep the listener
immersed in the ambiance created by these seven Swedes.
I will say that above all, I find "Between The Lines"
to be my favorite cut. The guitar and keyboard interplay
is awesome, and the melody created will certainly stick
with you. Speaking of keyboards, they are ever-present on
Souls Highway but they never overwhelm. They float just
under the surface, providing just enough accent to both
the vocal harmonies and crunching guitars. The title track
is the heaviest tune on the disc and is where Eric displays
his great range of deep, clean, emotional vocals. "Gimme
Gimme Gimme", Beseech's tribute to fellow Swedes ABBA,
is also worthy of mention. The song is, in one word, excellent.
They've done the best Goth adaption of a popular mainstream
song that this reviewer has ever heard.
So, I'll stop salivating long enough to
say that if you're a Goth Metal fan, or a fan of any genre
of atmospheric metal, Souls Highway is a must have album.
You will not be disappointed!
HMM Rank 5/5
Reviewed 03/21/2003
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The Metal's Den
Souls Highway will delight the
fans of this style who waited for a band to open a breach
in this hermetic crenel and will be able to take it towards
other dimensions. Well, they’ve succeeded!
It’s with astonishment that I discovered
BESEECH's third album, not that their gothic metal style
is so uncommon but rather for the quality of the songs contained
in this « Souls Highway ».
These Swedes have well polished up their
brand by playing with technologies and sounds but also by
inspiring it a very accessible tone making the melodies
and choruses easy to remember. Without losing their metal
edge, their dark side is nevertheless exposed to a greater
scale and with titles like « Between the Lines »,
« Endless Waters » or again with their Abba
cover of « Gimme Gimme Gimme », I wouldn’t
be surprised of hearing such tracks played in less "underground"
medias.
As it’s becoming more and more of
a custom, BESEECH includes female vocals throughout the
album which eases the low register male vocals and this
effect is very appreciable on titles like « Blinded
» or « Sunset 28 ».
BESEECH acquires themselves a personal
but also a more opened style than many other gothic metal
bands notably with much more discreet guitars, which blends
in the musical symbiosis.
« Souls Highway » will delight
the fans of this style who waited for a band to open a breach
in this hermetic crenel and will be able to take it towards
other dimensions. Well, they’ve succeeded!
Rick
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Ballbusterhardmusic.com
Beseech are very good musicians
Beseech is an seven member band,
from Sweden. Goth metal with touches of electronics. Male
dual vocals are type-o-negative-ish (Erik Molarin), facing
off against low vocals is female vocalist, Lotta Höglin.
"Blinded", "Illusionate", Lovers of
Tiamat, Type-O-Negative, Lacuna Coil, should enjoy this
release. The texture of the release is boundless, with the
keyboards mixed with the touches of electronics, and the
layered vocals, Beseech are very good musicians. Most hilarious
is the fact that they have done an ABBA cover, "Gimme,
Gimme, Gimme". If your open minded check out Beseech's
debut on Naplam Recs.
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Gothic Paradise
Hailing from Boras, Sweden, this Gothic
Metal band brings to us a signature sound that should please
wanderers all over the world. Formed in 1992, they embarked
on what has become a successful career in the underground
scene. The group currently is made up of bandmembers: Lotta
Hoglin (vocals), Klas Bohlin (guitar), Erik Molarin (vocals),
Robert Spanglund (guitar), Jonas Stromberg (drums), Mikael
Blak (keyboard) and Daniel Eloffson (Bassguitar). With two
releases under another label, they've now signed with Napalm
Records for their third release Souls Highway.
The music of this Goth Metal band falls
well into the genre, including epic metal, sometimes harsh,
sometimes clear male vocals mixed with the occasional female
vocals for added beauty and flare. Fans of Sirenia and Tristania
should really enjoy the music released by this band. The
range of music goes from the epic metal described to even
include some ethereal moments in many songs. This variety
gives this band and their albums a great range of freedom
in what they can release and they manage to do it
with style and great talent.
Souls Highway
Once again I've been presented with a
release by a group that takes the harsh Metal music, combine
it with great Gothic music and add some female vocals into
the mix to take some of the edge off. This album is a great
mix of all of these elements, yet they manage to stay away
from the Ethereal/Medieval elements some of the more popular
groups in the genre have mastered.
This new release from these Swedish rockers
is a great work, for Gothic and Metal fans alike. Like I
stated above, the harshness of the music is tempered a bit
by the female vocals, and even the male vocals aren't overly
harsh and distorted, but mostly just very deep. "Illusionate",
the first track is probably a great example of this balance,
yet is also probably the hardest track on the album. But
it's really the next few tracks that bring out the great
crossover elements, including some great electronic elements
such as the synths in the intro of "Between the Lines"
and during the intermediate parts when the guitars fade
out. "Souls Highway" continues on this grinding
and driving style, but this time doing it alone without
the female vocals, yet still including certain electronic
elements that really add a nice touch.
At this point the album takes a little
turn down a more relaxed atmosphere with a more acoustic
and slower tempo approach. Many of these tracks in the last
half of the album follow this particular style including
"Blinded" and "Sunset 28". Many of the
others have more metal elements but keep the slower beats
like "A Season in Green". But a real highlight
for me on this album is the beautiful instrumental track
"Beyond the Skies" which follows a mostly ambient
style that you really wouldn't expect from a group of this
genre. However, almost as interesting is the cover of the
ABBA song "Gimme Gimme Gimme", which sounds like
something out of the Type O Negative collection. The very
deep vocals, moody guitars and layered synths make it a
great cover, one of the better covers I've heard in a while.
This is an excellent disc for those that
really like to explore how groups can crossover between
pop, metal and gothic music.
Rating: 3.5/5
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