Raintime
Flies and Lies

October 2007
Released: 2007, Lifeforce Records
Rating: 3.5/5
Reviewer: Anders Sandvall

Coassin, Di Bon and Barzan are the names of this band’s masterminds. The guys started the band in 1999 with the intention of writing material similar to their biggest inspiration - Dream Theater. With members coming and going through the years, the band’s music has moved towards a harder approach. After their debut release in 2005 their label went bankrupt, but instead of giving up the band they began the search for a new label and that new label was Lifeforce Records. Lead singer Coassin has gotten help from a few well-known names like Jacob Bredahl (Hatesphere), Lars F. Larsson (Manticora) and Tommy Hansen. They use keyboards to add more depth to their melodic-death-metal-with-mixed-death-and-clean-vocals style.

The 11 tracks are run through at a breakneck speed and the album’s 45 minutes fly away like nothing. The main part of the album feels solid and fits like a glove. They have done a great cover of the Michael Jackson song “Beat It” which sounds brilliant. They’ve really managed to turn the song into their own. The only thing I’m a bit hesitant about is the overuse of keyboards. Besides that, the music is great and extremely well-played with many moments of heavy and aggressive guitar playing. And just like everything else, the production great too. Tommy Hansen really managed to catch the spirit of the band. I strongly believe that Raintime is going to go far in the future and I’m really looking forward to hearing from them in the future.

Killer tracks are “Flies And Lies”, “Rolling Chances”, “Apeiron”, “Rainbringer”, “Tears Of Sorrow”, “The Black Well”, and “Beat It”.