Time Signature Let the rock begin...

Genre: hard rock

Hard rock from the land of black metal, "Faithful Unto Death" offers hard edged rock and roll from beginning to end and features many of the virtues of melodic hard rock.

Melodic, yes, and even with a grungy twist to it, but we are not dealing with poppy rock music in any way. The melodic aspect is the most obvious in the catchy choruses that Diamondog make use of as well as in melodic leads - as in the case of the high octane rocker 'Let the Fight Begin' and the more mellow 'Lost in Tranquility'. A major component, however, is high energy rocking riffage, much of which has an almost punky edge to it - just check out the Motörhead-inspired 'Like a Diamond'. There are also multiple metal elements to please the hard rock-loving metalheads out there - there is a nice little metallic breakdown in 'Lost in Tranquility', for example and 'This Is a Love Song' is surprisingly heavy and groovy, while 'No Other Name' combines hard rock melody and sped up southern metal grooves.

The production is quite good, but not so polished that it compromises the hard rocking attitude of the album, and fans of melodic metal, edgy hard rock and not-so-introvert grunge should definitely appreciate this. The musicianship is also impeccable, and the music is performed with both spirit and precision.

If you like hard rock and if you are interested in the large, but often underappreciated, non-black metal rock scene in Norway, then you should definitely give this album a listen or two.