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lyricslocation: reviews
Blistering.com
For Giving - For Getting ( Rage of Achilles 2003 )Out of all the hot new bands coming out of Finland-Omnium Gatherum, Mors Principium Est., Rapture, etc., Elenium is clearly the least promising. Boasting a sound that recalls Edge Of Sanity at their worst (yes, I'm referring to Infernal), For Giving-For Getting not only tires easily, but grates on the nerves. Tasteless keyboard soloing, unmelodic guitar work, goofy clean vocals, and a total lack of dynamics makes For Giving-For Getting a forgettable release.
What is so head scratching about this release is how easily Elenium squashes any glimmer of a good idea with a bizarre keyboard solo, or guitar harmony that goes nowhere. Strange, since Elenium's contemporaries are seemingly chomping at the bit to embellish their tunes with some kind of glorious harmony or keyboard interval. There is not a single song or moment on this album that deserves any sort of praise or acknowledgment. Elenium obviously thinks they are onto something, but really need to go to songwriting school.
Where is the proof? For annoying keyboard work, look no further than ‘For Me’ and ‘Nameless-Faceless’, both of which will cause the listener to press the eject button almost immediately. Like a cheesy Nintendo game, the keyboard work of Johannes Salo is more of a distraction than an asset to the music. The aforementioned goofy clean vocals also pop up in ‘Nameless Faceless’ and ‘Moments’ only adding to the agonizing listen. For a band that is Finnish, its rather surprising that such 5th rate melodies would appear in songs like ‘Eye For A Lie’ and ‘Imposter’. Didn't these guys learn anything over the past couple of years? Puzzling stuff.
For Giving-For Getting is reminiscent of a time when Swano and Edge Of Sanity were at odds, leading to the creation of the forgettable Infernal album, an album that was devoid of any hooks, melodic leanings, and catchy riffs. For Giving-For Getting is horrifyingly similar in many ways. There is a wealth of quality stuff coming out of Finland at the moment, but Elenium surely isn't a band of quality. For giving so little of their time and effort into this release, we all should be forgetting about Elenium.
5.5 / 10
David E. Gehlke
