ON THE LOOSE is an Epic Doom quartet from Portugal. Their EPK only contained the seven songs, and I suppose they don't get much press from the PR firm. So, we will have to let the music do the taking here. Their debut, self-titled release here contains seven songs. "Midnight" leads off the album. It begins with a slow, fuzzy riff and some muted production. The vocals are clean and full of vibrato...sounding a bit like Blaze Bailey, but with a higher range. Screams then come in, but to what end? I am not sure how they fit within the sound.

"Deceiver" begins with another slow and desperate groove, with lead guitars in the background. The vocals can be just a bit pitchy at times, but the harmonies are nice. Here, Lino sounds more like Bruce Dickinson, but the lamenting can get old pretty fast. "Desire" features again some lumbering riffs and plenty of angst. Lino shows he has pipes as he hits a nigh note before the guitar solo. The spoken words after border on the cheesy side.

"Path" is another slow, lamenting song that begins with soft rain and some thuds from the drums. From there, it sounds very similar to the other songs on the album. The background is filled with lead notes, but they don't offer much other than thickening up the sound a bit. "Lust" begins with bass guitar notes so low and fuzzy. The vocals are beginning to weigh on me...I don't need their overly lamenting sound anymore at this point on the album. "Dreamer" is the long song on the album, beginning with the sounds of a quiet evening in the woods. From there, the Doomy sounds are on full display through a very long and laborious song.

The title track closes the album, and it isn't much better than the previous tracks. This is pretty straightforward Doom Rock/Metal, but I question the clean vocals. In my opinion, this sound works better with harsh vocals. The emotions conveyed are very real, but I don't need seven tracks of this. Aside from the fact that the singer is pretty decent, as are the other musicians, this album just didn't do anything for me.