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CHARON :
DOWNHEARTED

Finnish Goth-Metal, there seems to be no end to it, and thank the dark forces for that, because each band just seems to be as good, or better than the last! Finland has given us such greatness as the 69 Eyes, Sentenced, To/Die/For, Entwine, and H.I.M., and now the latest band to land on my radar is Charon. The band formed in 1992, but didn't manage to get their first official release out until 1998 when they released "Sorrowburn". They then went on to release the well received "Tearstained" in 2000, which leads us now to 2002's "Downhearted", their 3rd full-length outing. This is easily one of the best CDs I've heard in months! Charon take the highly emotional content of bands like H.I.M. and Entwine, and then mix it with the heavier sound of Sentenced, and the outcome is nothing short of spectacular. They have taken some heat for sounding too much like H.I.M. at times, but when you think of it, does that really matter? Plus, for many who think H.I.M. is just a little to soft for their taste, Charon will be much more to their liking. The vocals, courtesy of Juha-Pekka Leppaluoto, are rich and powerful. At any given time they can come off as romantic (in a gothic sort of way) or menacing, which is a great quality in such a band as this. It's sort of like what Peter Steele of Type-O-Negative can do, but Juha's voice is not quite as deep. He is also the vocalist in a new band called Poisonblack, which also features Ville Laihiala of Sentenced fame on guitar. Songs like "At The End Of Our Day" and "Bitter Joy" will just have to be heard to be believed, nothing I can type can really do them any justice. Basically, if you have even a passing interest in this sort of music, this is a must have. A perfect CD for playing with that Goth love in your life, and yet it also possesses enough balls, that you can bang your head to it, if the mood catches you. For more info on this fantastic band check out their official web page.
RATING = 9 Goth-Metal (Released 2002)

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CHARON :
SONGS FOR THE SINNERS

Finland's Charon are back with full-length number five! Oh, how time does fly... I personally own three out of the five discs in question, so I guess you could say I'm a fan. Although, I never got around to their follow up to 2002's "Downhearted", which was 2003's "The Dying Daylights"... Not that I didn't want to pick it up, it got good reviews and all, it just slipped through the cracks. Anyway, onto "Songs For The Sinners". Since we last checked in with the band here at the Pad, Mr. Leppaluoto has left Poisonblack to concentrate solely on Charon. So, was it worth it? Let's see... To tell you the truth, after my first spin of the disc, my initial assessment was that SFTS was at best average, and at worst highly derivative of the genre as a whole. Thankfully, I'm as lazy as all hell, and left this disc in my car's CD player over the course of a weekend. After hearing the platter from beginning to end at least six or seven times, I was asking myself, what the hell was I originally thinking?! These songs are nothing short of addictive! That is except for one; out of ten songs presented, we have one clunker. Track five, "Air", is a plodding ballad that just has absolutely nothing going for it. I can't even count how many times I ended up FF-ing past it. The other nine however well make up for this one minor slip. Charon still manages to balance the mellow as well as the heavy elements of the genre as only they can seemingly do. The end result is another batch of songs that will please both the beauty (chicks) and the beast (dudes). If you dig any of their previous outings, I can't see how you would not like this one. Unless that is, if you only give it that first spin, and make the error like I almost did of ejecting it and passing a premature judgement.
RATING = 8.5 Goth-Metal (Released 2005)

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