Within Y
Extended Mental Dimensions
7.7
Now here is a mindblowing concept: imagine a band from Gothenburg, Sweden, playing the style that put their city on the map. They don’t stray very far from the tried and true formula, but in their defense, there don’t seem to be many Gothenburg bands left that still play good old-fashioned melodic death from the late 1990’s. Within Y is a rookie act, with one highly-regarded demo that preceded this album, and only one member with any real history – Thim Blom who also drums for Gardenian.
The core of their sound is rooted in the classic Slaughter of the Soul manner. On top of that foundation, many of the songs carry a desperate atmosphere common to Eucharist’s work. Occasionally, a stray influence will briefly rise to the top, and then vanish within the course of a song. Nikke Almen and Mikael Nordin have obviously been listening to this stuff for awhile now, and as a result, can riff as well as any band in the scene. Andreas Solvestrom’s expected yelled vocals sound just like those of Markus Johnsson (again, Eucharist), or maybe a relaxed Tomas Lindberg. You know what this sounds like. The album was recorded at Meta4 studio, but produced and mixed by the band, and the end aural result is quite strong, with just a little more low-end than a typical Fredman job. And just to keep everything as local as possible, the whole package is wrapped in a standard Niklas Sundin artwork layout. In short, Extended Mental Dimensions is a Gothenburg melodic death album.
As a whole, this genre has the remarkable ability to deliver so many decent songs, yet so few great songs. I feel as if I have twenty albums in my collection that play out like this – consistently solid throughout, but at the end of a listen, no song really stands out or ingrains itself in my musical memory. If I were forced to pick a favorite, it would have to be “Behold”. Early Soilwork grooves drive this song, which peaks with a nice meaty chorus. The song that follows, “Silently Leaving”, also falls prey to more Soilwork influence, this time, sounding like a cut from the A Predator’s Portrait album. “Injection” features a classic Amott solo. What about the rest of the album? It’s simply pure melodic death from the heavier, faster end of the Gothenburg spectrum.
Your life will not be lacking in any way if you never get the opportunity to hear Extended Mental Dimensions, but if you just devour any and all melodic death that you can get your hands on, you’ll be more than pleased with Within Y. This would even serve as a good intro to a metal neophyte wondering what they what’s been brewing in Sweden over the last decade, but don’t forget the classics that gave these guys their inspiration.
