Hell Sweet Hell

Artist: Fear My Thoughts
Label: Lifeforce Records
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 826056005420
EAN: 0826056005420
ASIN: B0009X76IM

Release Date: 2005-08-02

Hell Sweet Hell

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Tracks:

Intro
Windows for the Dead
In the Hourglass
My Delight
Sweetest Hell
Dying Eyes
Sadist Hour
Master's Call
Ghosts of Time
Satisfaction Guaranteed
Tie Fighting
...Trying to Feel

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Customer Reviews:

FMT Best Record To Date, Although Lost In The Sea Of Metalcore Stagnation.......2006-01-08

I've heard all four Fear My Thoughts albums (from their debut "23" up to this release) and it's been interesting to see how the band has evolved from a chaotic, noisecore outfit to the metalcore sound they embody now. However every evolution the band has gone through (most notably the jump they took between "Vitriol" and "The Great Collapse") has strengthened them in every way. To be honest I heard "The Great Collapse" and wasn't really impressed. It wasn't a bad record, but in some places it seemed like they were trying too hard, and in others not hard enough. It was also their first album to take on the swedish melodeath influence and transform into "metalcore". Whatever you want to label this cd as, be it metal, hardcore, melodic death, or metalcore is fairly unimportant, as the music should speak for itself. And on "Hell, Sweet Hell" it does.

First off the vocals have improved so much on this record. If this is your first Fear My Thoughts record, you really won't appreciate how much this band has stepped up their craft since their last outing. Listen to any of their earlier releases and you will understand why I believe this to be their best effort. Where on "The Great Collapse" the vocals came off sometimes cheesy, often sounding too much like the proto cookie-monster style (and the less than stellar production didn't help), "Hell, Sweet Hell" sees the vocals primarily going to route of a raging, throaty scream, occasionally mixing in some deep growling. Like I said you really have to listen to any of the band's previous releases to understand my appreciation for the improvement this band has undergone.

Musically, they taken heavy influence from swedish melodic death this time around, ala Killswitch Engage. Unfortunately though this guitar style is far from original or refreshing right now, which is ultimately why people are coming down so hard on these guys. While it's not necessarily ground breaking, the band's musicians show an apt ability for playing this style of music that has become fairly popular now. The excellent guitar riffery on "My Delight" (love the accenting background fill solo behind the bridge at around 2:07) and "Sadist Hour" is worthy of noting, as it stands side by side with the genre's heavyweights. The leads found in the title track and "Dying Eyes" are also extremely accomplished. The drumming is top notch, as with most metalcore, although nothing jaw dropping. It basically follows the formula, which is what most of the record does...

...And is ultimately is what detracts from Fear My Thoughts appeal. While they are talented musicians and great song writers, they just sound way too much like everything else. There's little distinction between them and most other bands in the same music scene. While they do add some interesting synths and electronic elements in places ("The Master's Call", "Windows For The Dead"), it's hardly enough to make them amazingly different from anything you've probably heard before. The addition of clean vocals this time around are also a major downfall. I like my fair share of melody in heavy music, but where Fear My Thoughts tries, it doesn't work well. Songs like the opener "Windows For The Dead" and track 3 "In The Hourglass" are rolling along fine until the melodic crooning starts. While it's far from being a whiny, high-pitched emo howl, the melody just doesn't fit with the band or it's sound. "Trying To Feel..." is ambitious, and especially in the musical department it is welcomed addition, but the vocals don't really do much to take the song to a higher level. There's no denying the band is at their absolute best on pieces like "My Delight" and "Sadist Hour" where they're not trying to throw out catchy choruses. There's also a significant lack of breakdowns as compared to other previous releases, furthering the comparison to metal, rather than their roots in hardcore.

Still "Hell, Sweet Hell" is definitely Fear My Thoughts most accomplished record. When reviewing I had to compare it to the band's earlier albums, which in turn makes this look like a masterpiece. Compared to the rest of today's metal and hardcore I'd say it's more of a 3 star, maybe 3.5 at the most, but in relation to their earliest recordings this definitely the band's opus (4 or 4.5). If you do listen to this record, I'd encourage you to also listen to anything previous you can get from the band ("The Great Collapse" is easy, "Vitriol" and "23" are harder to find) to see how much significant growth this band has taken. For that alone I give them credit, and that's why I like this record. It's best to listen to every once in a while, or hear live, because constant exposure will mostly likely lead to boredom. Overall not a bad record in the least, and undoubtably FMT's finest effort yet. Hopefully these guys can continue to grow and keep evolving, because they have tons of potential. As for now "Hell, Sweet Hell" will do.

Fear this album..........2005-09-14

I understand this band was a metalcore album, and this is the only album I have by them. I will tell you right now that it is fantastic. It has heavy melodic death elements, hints of industrial metal, and some metalcore elements. But in general, this is a great melodic death album. Actually, many of the songs sound nothing like American music. You do not understand how many times I've listened to this album after getting it, which is rare because it either has to be original and catchy, or somewhat inspiring. What I truly enjoyed was how some songs had singing, while others were very heavy. These elements are presented with 2 different types of vocals. My favorite, being the growling vocals, sounds monstrous combined with european-sounding riffs (very death-metalish), and Fear My Thought's sound is nowhere near just imitation. When I listen to bands like As I Lay Dying, I feel as if they are trying to copy Swedish bands. Fear My Thoughts is nothing like that, and they can very well be passed on as a European band in some songs. In others, I did feel industrial moments such as "In the Hourglass." The singing is put to a minimal, and isn't used as part of choruses. I highly recommend this album, as I come back for it many times while listening to music.

Hell Sweet Hell: the melting pot of metalcore and melo death.......2005-09-10

I haven't heard any Fear My Thoughts albums before, but I know this is their fourth album, and by many touted as their heaviest and most 'metal' release. From what I understand, Fear My Thoughts used to be more involved in the metalcore scene, until they decided to bring in more Gothenburg elements, utilising more melodic passages, guitar harmonies, some synths, as well as a thrashier approach for the heavier stuff. Whether they've fully achieved their goal is debatable, however.

It is true that some songs certainly have the fingerprints of Swedish death metal bands like At the Gates and the more technical arangements heard on earlier Darkane discs. "My Delight" and "Sweetest Hell" are both insanely melodic in structure, but at the same time, there is an obvious forced effort on the band's part to inject some truly unnecessary scream vocals in the mix, just to keep true to the Killswitch Engage-type of singing. While the thrashy riffage mixed with speedy drum work on these songs is highly impressive, Matthias von Ockl's vocal style make them a hard listen. Similarly, the more metalcore works on this album, such as "Windows for the Dead", "In the Hourglass" and "Ghosts of Time", are filled with rather bland generic guitar riffs that seem to repeat themselves not only in one tune, but pretty much every other track. Clean vocal harmonies are used to create a more catchy chorus but hardly blend with the intense Gothenburg guitar melodies that are pushed into the song for reasons I don't understand. This just strengthens my opinion that, when writing this album, the band must have been in a huge identity crisis, not knowing whether they should play metalcore or melodic death with nothing new to offer. Some bands just need to realize that the fusion of metalcore and Gothenburg rarely succeeds, mainly because they are entirely different genres with no common ground.

Still there is a good dose of dual harmonic lead guitar work, with interesting stop-start breaks, and the occasional synth line that helps lift the choruses. Sadly, repeated listens only serve to reveal how many recycled riffs and drum fills permeat Fear My Thoughts' songcraft. The only exception is the last song, built around acoustic guitars, entirely clean sung vocals that slighlty border on gothic rock, spoken words, huge keyboard atmospheres that surround the guitar theme, only to be replaced by the initial acoustic melody in the outro. The album was produced by Jacob Hansen known for his great work with Mercenary and Communic.

Fear My Thoughts strikes me as one of those bands you'll hear a couple of times, but will rarely want to go back to their albums. They really have to forge themselves a more defined musical path if they want to survive in a genre with so many metalcore and melodic death bands.

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