SOULLINE is a melodic Death Metal band ( I did not know that this exist) from Switzerland and by the name of their members, probably close to the Italian border. The band was formed in 2002 and their first album Oblivium was released in 2007. After 17 years and a few more albums, the band is releasing their latest work Reflections via Massacre Records. Let’s check this melodic Death Metal thing. After the brief instrumental “Last Moon” opening the album, we have the energetic “Despite Your God” and I can say that I like what I am hearing so far. Heavy but a little more controlled than the usual Death Metal bands. You can call it just Heavy Metal with a guttural vocal as you can hear on the second tune “Clochard” as well. The guitars are not Death Metal heavy as well as the arrangements making the sound easier to digest.

We reach the good “Say Goodbye” and we get a little heavier on this one. The band uses the formula of melodic vocals mixed with guttural and I can see where this is going.This is a particular genre that does not grab my attention very much. Bands like IN FLAMES or PARADISE LOST that mixes the hard with the suave. Not that they are not good, but the kind of output does not sound appealing to me. We follow with “Look At The Stars” that has the same formula. The guitars work by Marco Alberty and Lorenzo Barenco are solid and can be very melodic. There is no shortage of riffs. The band advises on their press release that this is a kind of ecological work as all the tracks will reflect the present state of our planet and point out its ecological issues. Ecologic Death Metal is what we are hearing today and another good tune is “Human Corruption” that has everything to do with the theme. The singer Gabriele Gianora has great pipes and is able to add some melody in the guttural parts as a bonus. I can hear good backing vocals as well and I believe this may come from another member of the band. The band goes from creative to basic again as you can hear in

“Fragile Dreams” that has a long instrumental part until the melodic vocals show up. This is the more softer approach of the band on this album so far. Good track but a little different from the others in its proposition. The band also has a good drummer in Edo Sala that does not compromise by dominating the double bass drum art as you can see in “Before The Dawn”. We also should not forget bass player Rasmus Merker that needs to let the bass lines shine away from the guitars a little more. We end our journey with the inevitable kind of ballad “I Am So Sorry.” Ballad with guttural vocals mixed. New to my ears. Overall a nice work and I am sure there is a huge audience for this kind of output. Good musicianship and production despite not being much of my cup of tea.