Minhiriath - Minhiriath

*=Staff's pick	Letter Home 30/9 1914 Victims Of The Strive For Elysium Ramming Speed Under Siege

Genre	Symphonic Black/Power	Max Norlin	Vocals
Tracks	4	Tjarles	Guitar
Runningtime	24 Min.	Isak Stenvall	Guitar
Label		Niclas Wennerdal	Bass
Release	Autumn 2004	Johan Axelsson	Drums
Country	Sweden	Victor Bergmann	Keyboards
Similar artists	---

Minhiriath is a band from my hometown Vänersborg. They are young, between 15-20 years old, and have got a passion for music. Their journey began for almost four years ago and since then they've been developing their musical skills. I find this young band very interesting, they certainly got the talent to become great metalers, although this demo is unpolished and the reason for that is that they recorded it in a school studio. Well that's not a big deal as long as they are learning and developing.

Ok, they play a mixture of power metal and symphonic black, but the vocals sounds more like doom, well, at least some parts. The guitars are well played, but it wouldn't hurt with some heavier riffs. The bass sounds good, even if you don't notice it sometimes, you know in your mind that Niclas is their, somewhere. They keyboard have got a strange sound, but surprisingly fitting the other instruments. Though I would them be the "details" of the music. The tracks are kind of dark and depressing, some fast bass,

The weakest point of Minhiriath is the vocalist. I feel that he uses the palate more than the throat, sounding kind of boring and novice. Perhaps some training from a experienced vocalist would help a lot. At times, the backing vocals sounds like Bal Sagoth, which I find cool and interesting, not amateur or so, but real good. I won't mention the production or the composition due to the studio and the fact that they haven't played for so long together.

This review has been short and not very detailed, but I don't want to destroy their whole future by insulting them for every little miss I find. They need time and they need to practise, maybe organize and create some cool riffs for the future and polish the vocals. Because in the future, they probably have a contract with a good label no doubt about it. Until then, they must produce something unique for us discriminating fans that hunger for more fresh music. Minhiriath first big public appearance will take place at 2000 Decibel festival, Bengtfors, Sweden. I'm looking forward to see what they manage to do and I wish these guys best luck in the future.

Production	Vocals	Compositions
4,5	4	6

Summary
5,5 chalices of 10 - Farshad