Ah, good old dependable Swedish melodeath, always there to get the head bobbing, the blood pumping, and hopefully the face stanking. Between great and established acts like Dark Tranquility, Amon Amarth and In Flames the boilerplate style of classic Swedish melodeath has been firmly manufactured and distributed to the masses. Relative newcomers After Earth are here to cut their teeth on the stainless steel style, being firmly indebted to and embedded in this cookie cutter formula, while dealing in a largely mid-paced, gritty and gravelly flavour of melodic death, adorned with an occasional dash of symphonics.
While the album sounds great, with a spacious and deep production that balances grit, depth and clarity the riffs on its first two proper tracks are good for appreciative head bobs but do not reach greatness. Opening on the industry standard atmospheric intro, the Dark Night of the Soul starts with a nice chunky riff on “The Lucent Sun”, immediately flaunting a thick, gravelly and delectable guitar tone. On lead single and title-track “Dark Night of the Soul” After Earth manage to sink the hooks in, charging out of the ranks of uniformity with a symphonic ditty that reminds of slower Mors Principium Est or SepticFlesh and grabs the attention with it’s hooky bombast.
Unfortunately, the album’s midsection does not maintain this high quality melodicism, foraying into a more plodding and guitar-focused death metal. That isn’t an issue per se, but as “King From Within” demonstrates, this style of Carnation-tinged death metal lives and dies by the strength of it’s riffs. While faster-paced “Throe”, with its punky drumming, is probably the strongest of the three and would make for a pretty good pit song, the riffs just aren’t engaging enough to distinguish these tracks from the unwashed masses of melodeath mediocrity.
For the persistent listener, Dark Night of the Soul fortunately develops like an ironclad lobster—whihc is to say that most of the meat’s in the tail. Clear album highlight “Serfitude” ramps the melodicism back up, with a winning earworm of a chorus, an excellent bridge and a tasty solo. While still not particularly original, sounding eerily like Tarot-era Æther Realm is high praise in the land of melodic death metal. The album’s final three tracks maintain this stronger sense of melody, with “The Queen Who Wept” and closer “From The Ashes” boasting some of After Earth’s better offerings in the riff department. The album’s longest track, “‘Til Daylight Dies” pulls the orchestral flourishes back out for a late-album bombastic stomp, and boasts some deliciously weepy guitar leads.
After Earth’s Dark Night of the Soul is a good but rarely great platter of melodic death metal, saved from the muddy mess of mediocrity by a great production job and a few standout tracks that are a worthy addition to any appropriate playlist. This style is always a comfort pick to me, and while the record’s midsection has failed to grab my attention, mileage on that may vary. If you’re a fan of the style and are jonesing for some musical comfort food, give it or at least the standout tracks, a shot. Just don’t expect to be surprised.