Customer Reviews

Flies & Lies

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

 

 

I just downloaded this from Amazon and I love it. It hits on every level for my tastes. Great clean and death metal vocals, progressive elements, and very nicely done guitar solos. What can I say? This rules. I'm going to state for the record that this is my favorite new music in many months.

On their second album Flies & Lies, Italy's Raintime expand on their melodic signature, bringing in elements of both clean and growled vocals, some cool power metal-style double bass drums, hefty keyboards, and punchy guitar lines. Recorded by noted producer Tommy Hansen (Helloween, TNT), the production is noticeably sharper and more energetic. The album also guests Hatesphere and Manticora members on the aggressive and more melodically driven pieces respectively.

What we have here is the slamming onslaught of melodic metal in the vein of a less aggressive version of Children of Bodom and the typical Euro power metal style, best exemplified on the opening title track. From here on, the album emphasizes the hallmarks of melodic metal and slightly Gothenburg-like material, particularly in the repeated guitar chords set against a semi-brutal vocal attack. "The Black Well" is as close as the band gets to recapturing that vibe, but there are also more laidback, keyboard-friendly songs, such as "Rolling Chances", complete with a crystal clear guitar solo; and the classic Euro power metal of "Rainbringer", as the song title itself implies. The all clean-sung "Finally Me" is the power ballad of the album, highlighting the clear and gripping vocal ability of Claudio Coassin.

The synth-heavy opening of "Tears of Sorrow" launches into a crunchy, metallic verse, boasting both processed and screamed vocals before the band follows it up with Michael Jackson's "Beat It", a sharper take on the original, but the lead playing does fall short of Eddie Van Halen's solo. The most daring song on the album is arguably "Another Transition", which moves from a syrupy synth intro to industrial-tinged goth screams and anthemic power metal harmonies by Manticora's Lars F. Larsen. This is going to be one of those songs that will please the entire audience when played live.

Flies & Lies is definitely an improvement over the debut, and is bound to impress most melodic fans, provided they expect nothing ground-breaking. You've already heard everything presented on this album in various stylings, so don't go expecting anything over-the-top.

(This is a review of the European version of the album; my copy does not contain the Japanese instrumental bonus track.)
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Tracklisting- Flies & Lies . Rolling Chances . Apeiron . Rainbringer . Finally Me . Tears of Sorrow . The Black Well . Beat It . Another Transition . Burning Doll . Matrioska

Since Raintime's debut album Tales from Sadness came and went without much notice, I'm hoping their 2007 effort Flies & Lies helps the band reach the wider audience their music deserves.

Raintime is one of those rare bands that successfully combine elements of death metal and progressive metal. Sounding like equal parts Dream Theater and Dark Tranquillity, Raintime joins bands like Mercenary and Into Eternity in creating a style of metal that can appeal to fans of both aggressive and progressive styles of metal. Flies & Lies continues with the style found on Tales from Sadness - technicality matched with melody, clean vocals matched with harsh, blazing guitar work matched with plenty of keyboards - but takes a dramatic step forward in terms of songwriting and especially production quality. It's a powerful and compelling album that only loses my interest once towards the end, and that's a highly unexpected cover of Michael Jackson's Beat It. I'll give the guys credit for originality, but this one just doesn't work for me. Fortunately the punishingly heavy closing track Matrioska is more than enough to make up for it. If that song doesn't give you whiplash from banging your head, something might be wrong with you!

I enthusiastically recommend this album. It may be a bit too heavy for progressive metal purists and not heavy enough for death metal disciples, but is all but guaranteed to please most open-minded metal fans.

PS - I had the good fortune of seeing Raintime perform live at ProgPower USA VIII in 2007, and I'm happy to report that the band is just as impressive live as they are on disc. Hopefully they will come back to the USA before too long.

I'm a sucker for clean vocals and keyboard in metal, so this is a great find for me. Raintime reminds me of In Flames, but they still have a very original sound. I would love to see these guys live...hopefully they become more popular and will make it over to the states!

The CD is quite good - there are only a few songs that I'm not a fan of, but overall it is good beginning to end. The average song length is >4mins, which is nice too.

I first heard cuts from Raintime through MySpace music and thought highly enough of it to buy the album and check 'em out. One word: WOW! Incredible musicians with more drive and progression than most music in America today. The album rips and shreds from the very first track and never lets up. The more my kids and I listen to Flies and Lies, the more we love it.

The only downer is when vocalist Claudio Coassin belches broken glass from his mouth when he attempts his 'evil' voice. I mean.. come on! He obviously has incredible vocal talent and can hit every note on the vocal spectrum, so he doesn't need to belch the broken glass, really.

Other than that, this is an incredible album and I would say a 'must-have' for all metal-head collections. I am seriously looking forward to future releases from these guys. They are truly under-rated and need more exposure in America. ROCK ON, RAINTIME!!

Raintime's new record "Flies and Lies" is one of the most mind blowing, metal affairs of 2007. The record combines everything prog and death metal fans love while adding a style of it's own. Meanwhile, music fans in general should check out the band's cover of Michael Jackson's "Beat It"

Raintime are one of a new crop of bands playing a hybrid between two of my favorite metal sub-genres: Melodic Death and Power Metal. For the uninitiated, Melodic Death Metal takes elements from classic Death Metal, such as the hard and fast double-bass-blast-beat-heavy-drumming, "harsh" vocals (growls), and wall-of-sound rhythm guitars. It then adds thrashy, melodic lead lines (a la At The Gates), often times harmonized by twin lead guitars. Early In Flames recordings are a great example of the style. So to summarize, Melodic Death Metal: heavy double-bass drumming, thick crushing rhythm guitar, thrashy melodic lead guitar, and harsh growled vocals. Now, Power Metal is the "forgotten" metal genre, left behind by the resurgence of Metal in the popular arena (except for Dragonforce. Ugh). The most important aspects of this genre are clean vocals (with vibratooooo!), and a galloping eighth or sixteenth note double-bass drumbeat with half-note snares overtop. Power metal also often borrows the slow, plodding, straight rock beat of Arena Oriented Hard Rock (i.e. 80's). In contrast, a blast or slam-beat would have snare hits with every bass drum hit, creating a frenetic, violent sound that fits well with the harsher Death and Black Metal. In general, power metal is happier, more upbeat, often quite epic, and melodic.

So Raintime have taken the thrashy leads, thick heavy rhythm, and harsh vocals of Melodic Death (even Black Metal), and combined with them the galloping melodic sensibility of Power Metal to create a (sort of) new hybridized sound. They use clean vocals, albeit sans vibrato--a much more classic heavy-metal vocal style that is refreshing (mostly). They use the vocals tastefully throughout the album, but get dangerously close to the Emocore cliché with the third track, Apeiron. If you don't know what that means, consider yourself lucky and be thankful they basically put all the garbage in one track, leaving the rest of the album relatively unscathed. Another important element of the Raintime sound is the use of keyboards as a melodic device, usually seen only Power Metal. A good example of this is my favorite song on the album, "Rolling Chances", where an edgy power-metal beat thunders below harsh rhythm guitars and scowling vocals, only to be accented by a delicate tinkling of melody by the keyboards. The contrast between the melodic keys and the harsh backing is pure hybrid heaven (hell?). Those who know my penchant for musical cross-fertilization should not be surprised.

The last element worth mentioning here is Raintime's extraordinary songwriting ability. In fact, the songwriting is good enough to lead me to overlook the presence of that one glaring cliché of a song (Apeiron). Much like another of my favorite bands, Children of Bodom, the original pioneers of the Black/Death/Power hybrid, every note they play seems to be exactly in its place. Every riff is catchy. Every lead line pulls you along with it. Overall, the sound is quite mature for a band with only two releases under their belt. While not exactly pioneers, Raintime have created a unique sound that they execute with confidence and dexterity. I, for one, can't wait to hear what they come up with next... Oh, and they cover "Beat It". Yes, by Michael Jackson. And it's awesome.

Best songs: Rolling Chances, Tears of Sorrow, Beat It, Matrioska
Worst: Apeiron
Production: 5
Musicianship: 5
Lyrics (vocals): 4
Originality: 4
Overall: A-

There aren't many bands that blend harsh death growls, flying clean vocals, driving guitars, atmospheric keyboards, and do it as well as Raintime. In my eyes, Raintime and Mercenary are the two bands that do this perfectly. From the opening Keyboard notes to when the full band comes in, you will instantly feel the rush. The production of the CD is great also. Claudio is a very versatile vocalist, performing both growls and clean vocals. A lot of tracks stand out.
The title track "Flies & Lies" kicks off with a fast tempo and a very grooving guitar riff.
"Rolling Chances" is one of my two favorites on the CD. The growls in the verses are perfectly placed and the chorus is excellent.
"Aperion" features guest vocals by Hateshpere's vocalist.
"Finally Me" is the ballad of the CD, all vocals are clean and perfectly done.
"The Black Well" is completely all death growls, but it doesn't take anything away from the song.
The CD also includes a cover of "Beat It".
"Another Transition" has another guest vocalist during the chorus. It has a very power-metal type vibe to it.
"Burning Doll" is a 1 minute lead in into the album's closing song "Matrioska" which is the other favorite of mine. Fantastic end to a great CD.
"Butter-Fly" is an instrumental included in the Japanese Import.