Russia, as I have said before, has its own Melodic Death Metal scene which is very different from the Swedish and Finnish ones that get far more attention. TANTAL, from Pushkino, are one of these bands, forming in 2004. After the release of their debut full length in 2009, this band is back with its second offering, "Expectancy", to sate your appetite for their music.

This album has its moments, in particular the opening track, "Through the Years", which has plenty of guitar hooks and ideas on offer. It lasts over seven minutes and is a bit of a bold choice to kick off the album. The song that acts as the first proper single, "Nothing (Selfish Acts)", is certainly rooted in Melodic Death Metal, but is far more accessible than your average Melo-Death song. Most of the music on the rest of this album is, however, sadly not incredibly unique or original. This does not mean it is bad; it is merely fairly run of the mill Melodic Death Metal. I like this kind of music to be not only heavy, but also unique in some respect. Bands have to bring out something different in order to stand out from the fray. The one song that truly stands out is "Expectancy Pt. 1 (Desert in my Soul)", which is more mid-paced and is really interesting, as well as "In Times of Solitude" (which is, by a far stretch, one of the bests songs on the album), which has a cool acoustic section in it. If this band wrote more stuff like this, then I'm sure they'd stand out from the crowd.

It's clear that they are all great musicians (you only have to watch the guitar solo showcase that guitarists Alexandr Strelinkov and Dmitriy Ignatiev made for ESP Russia's Youtube channel to see this) but unfortunately, the talents they have haven't been properly displayed on this record. Everything they need to make a great album is there; they just need to bring out something different to what many other Melodic Death Metal bands are doing at the moment. Perhaps I have been harsh on them; I am into far heavier Death Metal than this. From a mainstream standpoint, they are quite good. This might appeal to you more than it appealed to me.<