When I was handed “Gallery of Life” by Within Silence, I honestly had no idea what to think. I had never heard of the band, so I had to look things up for a bit. It turns out that Within Silence is a melodic metal band, compared to the likes of Sonata Arctica and Theocracy. Now, those are very big names, and I honestly was a bit skeptic. When you compare a band to names like that, you feed the expecations of your audience. Will Within Silence be able to live up to such expecations? Let’s find out:

The first actual song “Silent Desire” kicks off with a promising start by using powerful, melodic guitar parts and pounding drums. And as I had hoped, the song gets even better when the vocalist kicks in. Martin Klein’s voice just fits the music really well, and is perfect for melodic/power metal. The chorus of the song sounds like an epic anthem that every power metal fan will love and appreciate. And if that’s not enough, we’re also treated with a guitar solo after the chorus. This is a great way to start an album with. A very energetic mix of powerful vocals and epic guitars.

After such a great song, I was actually curious whether the next song would be just as good. Because honestly, there are albums out there where the first song is actually the best song. And that does kind of put your hopes up. Then you listen to the next few tracks, and it’s just kind of a disappointement, because it’s not as good as the first song. Well, rest assured, because that is simply not the case here. The second song “Emptiness of the Night” is another great song that does not fall short of my expectations after such a good start. It begins with fast-paced guitars, and some synths in the background to complete the atmosphere. It kind of reminds me of Iron Maiden at certain points, because of the way the rhytm and lead guitars are put together. And when the chorus kicks in, I can definitely see why this band is compared to Theocracy. It has a similair sound, but not in a copycat kind of way.

“Elegy of Doom” seems to have a somewhat darker tone, because of the thrashy sounding guitar parts at the beginning. And the synths hint towards that as well. The synths are not always obvious, but if you pay attention to them, you can hear that they definitely play a part in this band’s sound. It’s possible for bands to kind of over-use them, but Within Silence shows that they are capable of using it in the right way. During the chorus, the atmosphere lightens up a bit and has a certain calmth to it. But after the chorus, the guitarist Richard Germanus starts using his growls, which came as a pleasant surprise to me.

Sadly, this review would be way too long if I reviewed every track. So I’ll jump to the final track “Road to the Paradise”. This song begins with the most solid guitar work I’ve heard so far on this album. The chorus is very melodic, epic and energetic. I figure it will get stuck in the heads of at least some listeners. After the second chorus, there’s an interlude where we can hear the bass guitar together with the synths. I always appreciate it when bands give the bass guitar some room to breathe. Especially since the bass guitar is the most underrated instrument in metal. Right after the interlude, the guitar solo kicks in which adds a lot more energy to the song in general. Another great song.

Overall: It doesn’t happen often that a band releases such a solid debut album. The guitars are just excellent, and the vocals are spot on. The drums and bass do their job very well too, though they do not always stand out to me. If I had a complaint, the only complaint would be that the songs can tend to blur together at some point. But there’s also the genre to blame for that, since melodic/power metal does not leave a massive ammount of room for experimenation. But the members of Within Silence have showed that they are indeed very skilled at what they do. Keep your eyes open, because this band will be going places!

Rating: 8/10

Written by Geert Prins

Tracklist:
01 Intro
02 Silent Desire
03 Emptiness of Night
04 Elegy of Doom
05 The Last Drop of Blood
06 Love is Blind
07 Anger and Sorrow
08 Judgement Day
09 The World of Slavery
10 Road to the Paradise
11 Outro

Within Silence is:
Martin Klein – Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals
Richard Germanus – Lead guitars, Growls, Backing Vocals
Martin Cico – Rhythm guitars
Filip Andel – Bass, Backing Vocals
Peter Gacik – Drums

Record Label: Ulterium Records, May 2015

Discography:|
“Gallery of Life” [2015]

Weblinks: Facebook / Website / Bandcamp

Buy the album here:
Holland: First Paradox 
Norway: Nordic Mission

Pre-Order / Ulterium Records Store

Video below “Gallery of Life”