I think of Fission as an experiment, I guess. Or maybe not? Well... Can you always focus on the thin distinct line between "combining sub-styles and "breeding novel species of musical expression based on initially poles-apart constitutive elements? Were we all clever enough to foresee the motives of Skyclad's "Wayward Sons Of Mother Earth debut work-of-art or Bewitched's "Diabolical Desacration unveiling masterwork the time they came out? "Innovation in the services of repletion maybe fits better. Beware: we're not talking 'bout musical style here, it's the mind work that raises the self-discussion.
Fission were formed in 2002 by Benny Hagglund, session live drummer for Black Metal act Vintersorg. Benny wrote lots of material by himself, took over the guitar and bass activities and invited Andreas "Vintersorg Hedlund to complete vocal lines and keyboard support. The fact that these two artists have previous experience working together is clearly depicted on the CD, as the sound is stiff & solid, yet "neat and nervous. The lyrics seem to me a little bit "scientific, according to what I hear since there's no lyrics text in the promo CD, and the melody lines are well managed by Andreas - both growling and clean - with sufficient ease.
The "music part, last but no least, is still what matters. I am not familiar with any Vintersorg release, so don't expect any "slant thesis for or against the songs included... The first time I heard the CD I was ready to grab the spade and start "quarrying someone's grave up there in the Cold Lands. The reason? Everything seemed as an once-again "let's-put-them-in-the-mixer-and-burb-on-what-comes-out draft mockery. OK now, let's move to the truth: after the 3rd "earing the shovel was far set into it's closet. Good or bad, what these two talented multi-instrumentalists present is a strange, yet familiar in a mysterious way, combination of Modern Thrash and mature Heavy Metal merged fine with epic/pomp atmospheric choir refrains and 'twists & turns' from e.g. The Haunted to e.g. (again) Blind Guardian through e.g. (thrice) At The Gates. High speed verse-riffs working excellent with "crowded choruses, smart bridge-melodies accompanying aptly Andreas' lyrical expressionism, a never-boring sequence of guitar melodies with a stable rhythm section... Yeah, yeah, I was wrong...
Trying to analyze my way of thinking in both circumstances the semantic differential is the indirect, 'rounabout' exhibition of sophisticated memorandum throughout the "middle term of the excellent mixture mentioned above, gaining the listener's attention and respect gradually. I don't know if Benny's "child will attain the notice it deserves - not to mention success - but I'm not bothered at all as I am now listening again to my favorite track, "Accelerator (a typical sample of the band's sound, in case someone hits upon an .mp3 Net glimpse).