THE HYPOTHESIS is a Scandinavian band located in the "Deadly Winterlands of Helsinki Finland". The band qualified as a winner from Finland's Wacken Metal Battle qualifiers in Qstock-festival. In the year 2009, they recorded an EP entitled "Nightshade" and followed it up with "Weak Story" and "Shades to Escape", which were released as singles. In the year 2012, the band started work on "Origin" and it took them four years to record their debut album. During this period they went through a complete change of lineup. Obvious inspiration from bands like CHILDREN OF BODOM and SCAR SYMMETRY is evident in the way they approach the melodies on their debut effort.

"Shades to escape", the first track of the album, begins with an interesting electronic melody that builds up to the throaty vocals that follow.  A tight compact song that ties up beautifully that will regale fans of melodic death metal. "End of days" is the third track that seamlessly blends crushing riffs with clever organ pieces. "Weak story" has a bit of clean singing and is a breather from the growling, which is again a mainstay in modern metal. "Second chance", an instrumental track, begins almost like a euro dance track before the distorted guitar kicks in and when your mood begins to lift, it switches back to a passage of organ. A strange track with bizarre interludes in between, which reminds one of moshers who suddenly look clueless when there is a break in the tempo. The saving grace of this track is the lead and it is absolutely brilliant!

As most metal fans of this genre will undoubtedly know, Scandinavian bands are exemplary in melodic death metal. This band definitely belongs in that vein. They are technically unparalleled. The vocals are guttural, passionate and angst ridden and definitely hits the spot. Daniel Freyberg, from CHILDREN OF BODOM, guests on this album, as well.

If you are looking for melodic modern metal, look no further. THE HYPOTHESIS has all the necessary ingredients to astonish you with their mastery over their instruments. Stand out track for me is "Leak", a strong second song that grabs you where you were left panting and takes you to headbangland and believe you me, you don't want to leave! It has all the components that make you want to move your head up and down in vicious acknowledgement. This album has been given a thumbs-up from a few contemporary artists from CHILDREN OF BODOM and STRATOVARIUS.

The band, obviously, has put in a lot of effort getting every technical nuance perfect over the period of four years that it took them to record the album. However, one gets the feeling that there is really not much that differentiates them from their peers. I did get the feeling that, although the band is absolutely on top of their roles in the band, it misses the chance to really pull out something out of the bag and give us something unique. Having said that, there is no doubt in my mind that this is one band to watch out for. I have a feeling that great things are in store for this extremely talented band.<