Metal Temple

Grade: 3,5/5

It's time for your dose of melodic Death Metal my friends. Gather around "Gehennesis" and prepare for your injection of brutality and melody. Do not fear, this will not cause you any pain. To tell you the truth, I believe you will enjoy this kind of medication. Put this CD into your sound system, press the “play" button, turn up the volume and everything will be all right, I promise...

I was always into the Danish Metal scene because of great bands like MNEMIC, SMAXONE (a great band I had the chance to review and you have to check them out) and MERCENARY. In my humble opinion, Denmark is one of the countries that have many things to say regarding our beloved music. Even though I was pretty sure I knew the name COMPOS MENTIS from somewhere, I started listening to the album and I think that these guys made have some high hopes about melodic Death Metal.

COMPOS MENTIS draw influence from bands like the great AT THE GATES (now that's a reunion!), the well known DARK TRANQUILLITY and the above-mentioned MERCENARY. Their music is based on great melodic guitar leads, harsh vocals and a pretty clever use of the keyboards, which kind of complete the music in spite of “killing" brutality with stupid and meaningless melodies. The Danish metallers have given a glimmer of hope for the tortured melodic Death Metal scene, and without many fancy stuff, they can kick your ass with simple quality Death Metal. I can't say that this will be one of the top releases or that COMPOS MENTIS is the new big thing in melodic Death Metal, but I can say that "Gehennesis" is a little diamond hidden in a pile of mediocre shit.

If you take all of the above, and add the great production and the mastering, which was done by the one and only Tue Madsen at his Antfarm Studios, then you have an image of how this album may sound like. I suggest that fans of this sound should check these guys out and see for themselves that even the most trapped Metal genre can sometimes run away from the dark and have some light poured into its soul.