UMUR
"Godless Beauty" is the second full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Cemetary. The album was released through Black Mark Production in October 1993. It´s the successor to "An Evil Shade of Grey" from 1992 and features one lineup change since the predecessor as guitarist Christian Saarinen has been replaced by Anton Hedberg. Cemetary formed in 1989 and released a couple of demos before getting signed by Black Mark Production for the release of "An Evil Shade of Grey (1992)".
While "An Evil Shade of Grey (1992)" was more or less an old school Swedish death metal release in the unremarkable end of the scale, "Godless Beauty" is a pretty different sounding beast. Cemetary are still rooted in death metal, but they have opted to include death´n´roll, death/doom, and goth metal elements to their sound. Lead vocalist/lead guitarist Mathias Lodmalm is the focus of the music with his haunted semi-growling vocals and melancholic lead guitars, while the remaining cast more or less just deliver what you´d expect.
The album features a couple of up-tempo tracks (an example is album opener "Now She Walks the Shadows"), but most tracks are either heavy and mid-paced, or slow and doomy. It´s definitely an album where atmosphere is weighted higher than interesting playing details and sharp riffs. Valid references are artists like Paradise Lost and Tiamat but with an occasional death´n´roll twist.
Upon conclusion "Godless Beauty" is a decent quality release. It´s reasonably varied, the sound production (although a bit thin) is alright and the musicianship is decent too. It´s certainly more interesting than the lacklustre debut album, but it´s not an album which is through and through convincing. Maybe is just hasn´t aged well, because I remember it being a lot better when I listened to it in the 90s. A 3 star (60%) rating isn´t all wrong.
