Review Summary: A super band for fans of old In Flames and At the Gates...
Dimension Zero – Silent Night Fever (2002)
Regain Records
Line-up:
Jesper Strömblad (In Flames) – Bass & Guitars
Glenn Ljungström (Ex-In Flames) – Guitars
Jocke Göthberg (Ex-Marduk) – Vocals
Hans Nilsson - Drums
Track list:
1. Silent Night Fever (4/5)
2. The Murder-inn (4/5)
3. Through The Virgin Sky (5/5)
4. Your Darkest Hour (5/5)
5. Not Even Dead Yet (3,5/5)
6. They Are Waiting To Take Us (4/5)
7. Until You Die (3.5/5)
8. End (3,5/5)
9. Slow Silence (3/5)
Dimension Zero was formed by Jesper Strömblad and Glenn Ljungström who used to play together with In Flames. While In Flames released Reroute to Remains and showing major changes in their sound Dimension Zero released a full dose of Gothenburg death metal. The sound of this band is more aggressive than In Flames but you could clearly hear Jesper and Glenn influences on the sound. To me, it sounds like At the Gates with In Flames’ melodic chops. The vocals are a lot more powerful than Friden’s ones. Jocke is an awesome screamer. You can compare them to At the Gates again. The growls are also use as twin vocal interaction during some of the choruses. The drum is actually quite good. There’s nothing special here, just great drums. No overuse of the double bass or blast beats. Everything fits in the song and gives a harder vibe to the songs.
From the Opener ‘’Silent Night Fever’’ to ‘’End’’ the band use the same formula. Heavy riffs, fast drums, melodic leads and aggressive vocals. Some might find it repetitive but why complain when all songs are great. Songs like ‘’Through the Virgin Sky’’ and ‘’Your Darkest Hour’’ are stunning. Those songs are fully melodic and could have been on Whoracle or The Jester Race. The choruses of those songs are catchy as hell. ‘’Your Darkest Hour’’ riffs between 2:41 and 3:13 are a good lesson of Swedish Gothenburg riffing. ‘’Silent Night Fever’’ and ‘’Not Even Dead’’ are harder piece and less In Flames sounding. The lather features the only some of the rare clean vocals and clear guitars of the record and a nice short melodic lead/solo. Featuring blast beats and some double bass chops, aggressive riffs and growls, ‘’until you Die’’ is the hardest on this release. It is also the less melodic song of the record. The last two songs of the records are a lot shorter and never gets over 3 minutes. It proves that simplistic song can be good too. The closing song is weird. The weakest track but you could see that the song had potential. The sound is muddy and unclear. It’s a big turn off for me. It should have sound like the rest of the album. It looks like a tryout to be experimental.
The overall sound of the records is actually amazing. It’s well produced Mr. Friden himself I think. He might have been jealous of Jocke’s voice because he a lot more powerful than he is now. The guitar sound is clear and has a lot of punch. Same thing for the drums, the bass drum sound is not fake and loud in the mix. The only bad thing about the mix is the same thing than almost every metal record. Where’s the bass? Anyway the product is really good and should please fans of the Swedish metal scene. I recommend this super band to fans of In Flames, At the Gates, Dark Tranquillity and Nightrage.
Highlights:
-Through the Virgin Sky
-Not Even Dead Yet
-The Murder Inn
-Silent Night Fever
Pros:
-Great Melodic metal
-Good for angry fans of old In Flames
-Guitars riffs
-The Sounds is really good¸
-Powerful vocals
Cons:
-The first half of the record is better
-A bit repetitive
-No bass
