GARDENIAN

    Two Feet Stand

   - 7 -

GARDENIAN really are an interesting band.  They put out one of the best albums I've ever heard (Soulburner) in 1999, and in 2000 disappointed us all.  So, when I found out the band had a prior release to Soulburner, I lept at the chance to take a listen.  So what have I found out?

Coming from a stellar release to a prior effort is always an interesting experience: one has to remember that an album succeeds because the chemistry is right, and often times the elements that made it a success are either absent or significantly less developed.  Taking this into account, and noting the date of release, Two Feet Stand is not a disappointment.  From listening to this, I can tell exactly where GARDENIAN were trying to go, and I can clearly see the roots of their titanic release.  "So what does that mean?", you ask.  Allow me to elaborate.

TWO FEET STAND is a standard-issue 1997 Melodic Death Metal release, same kind that sounds like DARK TRANQUILLITY and Jester-Race era IN FLAMES, but with a few choice sparks.  There are nine tracks, and out of that two instrumentals, so the album is short, but strangely fulfilling.  There are a couple of places where the band make attempts at the clean vocals that Soulburner was known for, most notably on the track "Flipside of Reality".   While they don't work out to the same effect as their later efforts they are a start.  However, even if I had never heard their next two releases I think I would have theorized that they could go places with them.  The musical diversity is significantly less, save for the instrumentals, which are well done and well-orchestrated if a little routine.  But this was a band in their infancy, and I think that needs to be taken into account.

I think this album is lacking in two things: production and creativity.  The creativity I can partially forgive them for, this was a stepping-stone effort written in 1997, a time when pioneers like IN FLAMES were just releasing the discs that would both make them famous and define their sound.  This was the sound back then, though as I mentioned before, there are sparks here and there that hook me just enough that if this were back in 1997, I might want to pay attention.  The production, on the other hand, is just off.  It sounds hollow and tinny, the drums are a little loud compared to the rest of the band (I can't usually separate them out from the rest of the music this easily, to be a little more precise), and they suffer from that Jester Race-esque guitar sound.  It really does take away a good portion of the experience and, at the risk of sounding redundant, is just one of the many things the band obviously learned from and improved.

Buy this album if you either: A) Love the early to mid Melodic Death scene or,  B) are a die-hard GARDENIAN fan and want to see how everything started out.  I don't mind this album, it's certainly not one of my favorites, but it's a nice junior partner to Soulburner and really rounds out the whole GARDENIAN sound.
 
 

Contributed by Matt Gold

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