manimal darkest room

Released: 19 June 2009 Label: AFM

Manimal are a four-piece melodic metal band from Gothenburg, Sweden, whose originally self-financed and produced album Darkest Room is now about to be released on German label AFM around Europe.

It’s immediately apparent as the album opens with the track Shadows that the band plays an intricate metal, and the production is very polished. There’s a real mix of influences on this album, with classic, progressive and power metal scattered throughout. Most recognisable is the high-pitched vocals of front man Samuel Nyman, with the obvious and inevitable references to a young Rob Halford of Judas Priest or Geoff Tate of Queensrÿche.

Title track Darkest Room borders on power metal, reminding me of fellow Scandinavians Stratovarius or Sonata Arctica. Track four, I Am, is a more modern track with an almost nu-industrial start, with effects on the aggressive vocals before the more familiar higher pitched vocals come back in.

Ordinary Man is one of the quieter songs, but still relatively heavy and technically intricate with fantastic vocals. It starts with less high-pitched vocals, until the chorus and then Nyman really goes for shattering glasses and deafening dogs, and it’s almost painful in places. I actually prefer some of his vocals when he’s not quite so high-pitched.

The album finishes with the speedy and really catchy Dreamers and Fools and The Life We Lived, and it’s almost Crimson Glory for the modern day. Manimal play memorable and catchy melodic metal, with distinctive vocals, and have deservedly secured a record deal with this debut album; it’s well worth a listen.

by Lynn Wyeth