Customer Reviews

Dead Heavy Day

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Unlike some of the reveiws here, i havent heard the album "ESCAPEXTACY" as i am fairly new to this band. So my rating of this album is based on what i think of this album, not in comparison to other albums they have released.

I only really got onto these guys from my urge to hear more things from the sentenced frontman. And this album apealed to me greatly. Not because of who the singer was, but i enjoyed the "chuggin" riffs and the overall sound.

The music is like a more upbeat sentenced and also the lyrics. Overall i enjoyed this album but from the sounds of it i definatly need to have a listen to this "ESCAPEXTACY" album ASAP!!
Based on how much i enjoyed this album i give it a 4star. (i dont know if this version of it has the bonus dvd with the acoustic set, Rush video and making of on it, but that was also a very nice extra to get with the album)

So, Poisonblack started as a side project of Villa's, but when Sentenced decided to call it quits, Villa chose to do Poisonblack full time. Their first album, Escapextacy was excellent, and J.P. did a wonderful job on the vocals. Lust Stained Despair had some pretty good hits but overall felt lacking. Now they just released A Dead Heavy Day and I couldn't be more excited. 90% of this album is excellent and the other 10% is pretty good. There isn't one song here that I wouldn't listen to and be happy to do such. The best of this album are all the songs in the middle, tracks 3 to 9 and especially "A Dead Heavy Day", "Me, Myself, and I", and "X" are the best this has to offer. It blows away Lust Stained Despair and has better structure than Escapextacy. It's just the right mix between melodic and heavy, a must have for any fan of the genre.

This is the most unusual reveiew I have ever written. I just recently discovered Poisonblack. Vocals sound like old Megadeath a bit, but overall I like them---enough to get all their albums !!! And I think A Dead Heavy Day has the best material of any of the Poisonblack albums: very well written material. So I give 5 stars for the songs themselves. However, I dont think I have ever heard such a poor mixing & mastering job, at least not on something recorded in the last 10-15 years. So I give it 0 stars for the production. Thats a shame too, because this could have been a great album. I think they were trying for a strong crunchy sound with the guitars, but wound up with a shrill thin sound, that is actually quite annoying. Loud but WAY too abrasive. I am going to try to remaster the songs with a couple of my software music production systems, & hopefully, I can bring out the depth & power I think they were after. I think the material is well worth the effort. Unfortunately, without the masters, I may not be able to do as much as I would like,to lower & deepen the sound of the guitars, without also pulling down vocals & other parts of the music.---If anyone associated with the guys in Poisonblack happen to read this review-----DO NOT USE THE SAME PRODUCER---All of your other albums were mixed & mastered quite well. Its a shame this album wasnt done similarly.......You blew the chance for a really good album ....

I got into Poisonblack after learning that Charon's lead singer took lead on "Escapexstacy"... and that album was awesome! Even after J.P. left and Ville took over on vocals, "Lust Stained Despair" (while not having quite the same feel as the previous album) was still very good. In fact, there are more songs on "Lust..." that I like than on "Escape...".

So leading up to the release of "A Dead Heavy Day", I was super stoked! And the day I got that cd in the mail and popped it in my cd player... I was horribly disappointed. Memorable melodic riffs and choruses: GONE. Simply put: "A Dead Heavy Day" took the 'gothic" out of Poisonblack's gothic-rock sound. In actuality, the album sounds more like Sentenced than Poisonblack... but like a not-very-good Sentenced album.

If you liked Metallica's "St. Anger" then you might like this album. But if you're a big fan of Poisonblack's earlier work then check out Charon (my favourite), For My Pain..., or anything by Lacrimas Profundere between 2002 and 2006 (thier new album is pathetic).

First of all, I'm being kind giving this 2008 effort two stars! Lust was a very good effort, with Escapextacy being excellent. A Dead Heavy Day sounds like something that you would hear from any run of the mill garage band, seriously! The songs sound thrown together and the production just sounds plain empty! There is NO MORE gothic left in this band. Frankly, I thought Sentenced was utterly boring, so now Poisonblack has suffered the same fate. With that said, stick with the first two releases from Poisonblack, then check out the band To/Die/For.

OMG...don't listen to the previous review. This album is NOT as good as the other two. Villa really sounds different. They surely have gotten away from the Gothic sound. The overall feel just isn't there. Lust Stained Despair and Escapextacy are much better. Especially LSD. I love that CD. No song beats "Nail"!!!! However, I do LOVE..."Rush", "Raivotar", "The Living Dead", "With Her I Die", "The Glow of the Flames", "All Else is Hollow", and etc. LSD and Escapestacy absolutely smoke this new CD!! I have no idea as to the direction "A Dead Heavy Day" is going, but it's just not as good. They're way off track with release.

AFTER THE INTRODUCTION OF THEIR FIRST ALBUM ESCAPEXTACY, AND WITH MR. J.P. LEPALUOTO AS THE FRONTMAN AND THE FEELING OF VILLE LAIALA IN THE GUITAR AND THE LYRICS,LIKE THAT MASTERPIECE, I REALLY DON'T THINK IS GONNA COME BACK AGAIN. ESPECIALLY WHEN M.R. LEPALUOTO LEFT TO LAILLA THE VOICE.I'M AGRY THAT THE GROUP SOUNDS GREAT BUT I RECALL THE VOICE OF CHARON'S SINGER IS REALLY MISSING.