Black Mark is a strange kind of label, in my mind. Widely known for the circulation of all (all, right?) the BATHORY albums, this Swedish brand always had a limited roster but - somehow - its bands succeeded in delivering notable albums and - eventually - gaining enough of fame. Fine examples sum it up to EDGE OF SANITY, MORGANA LEFAY, CEMETARY and LAKE OF TEARS. See for yourselves? Now, it's HATERUSH putting out their second full-length effort, and Baptised In Fire has a title that fits live a glove...
Sweden - as always said - is one of the two countries with the little-iest of chances (worldwide) to provide the Metal world with a 'bad' band (the other one is Canada). From the harmony of AOR music to the extremity of Black Metal, the Sweds must have i) very good 'ears', ii) a tension to creativity, iii) huge education (from the school days) in music. Can someone explain this quality in Swedish Rock/Metal music?
To carry on, HATERUSH's debut offer, Mark Of The Warrior (2004) at the Greek Black Lotus label was a promising start. A typical HELLOWEEN-meets-GAMMA RAY-meets-QUEENSRYCHE album featuring good music but nothing more. Three years have passed, the band has a new bass player - even if the original one played the bass in the current album reviewed here - and the expectations have grown higher regarding the band's 'balls'.
Well, Baptised In Fire sees the band - now in the Black Mark roster, as pre-mentioned - preserving its melodic Euro Power Metal personality (not that 'personal', to tell the truth) with also adding some more elements from...who...else?...EDGUY. Embretsson's throat has a strong resemblance to Sammet's voice while the songwriting mode witnesses a similarity to the one of the successful Germans. There's enough of power in the music, that's true, while the instrumentation is of high level. Lots of choir refrains add up some supremacy and the narrative singing of Embretsson (at times) enriches the already interesting compositions.
And...that's all. Listening to the album again and again, it was hard to remember a riff, lead break or chorus once the audition was over. This 'Euro Power' curse still holds on, and it will be extremely difficult for a band to 'escape' from this trap. Obsessed fans of this German/Scandinavian kind of Metal music will add another good - and Baptised In Fire is really good, for them - album to their collection. As for the rest: if EDGUY and GAMMA RAY is not your cup of tea, what are the possibilities HATERUSH will be?