Against My Better Judgement – Fate Got Black

   AMBJ is five – piece act from Katerini, Greece. They’ ve been together for a couple of years and Fate Got Black  is their first EP (recorded in Lunatech studios during the summer of 2009), containing five compositions. As their very name manifests, these Greeks are not reluctant to compromise.    Swedish/melodic death metal is the musical style they’ ve developed. The thing is, with AMBJ, it is all about melody, and a pure songwriting process (and that’s fair). Though they are melodic, they are yet aggressive (e.g. Falling Veil’s first guitar riff is a fine example), and while being contemptuous of decorative techniques and impressions(not one guitar solo is performed for example), they sound tight. The songs extract a feeling of constant motion; AMBJ despise being inert. Furthermore, their musical style is reminiscent of In Flames; however, this influence is to an extent almost reaching past the limit allowed. Fate Got Black features a variety of instrumentation. Falling Veil ‘s keyboard samples parts are characteristic, Forbidden Tree starts off with a calm/melancholic piano melody (played by Efi Aleksopoulou - guest). The examples are illustrative. Concerning the band’s performance, as mentioned above, this is tight. Drums (Pasquale Karkaeitidis) are simple, so are the guitars leading the melodies (Giannis Eframidis, Nikos Hatzis). The bass lines (Mpampis Katsidis), are kind of indifferent, only following the main tune - deepening the sound’s volume.  Giannis Serafim is flexible on his vocals ( Ander’s Friden crash on him is hell of an influence, in terms both of technique and expression), being both aggressive and noble. Fate Got Black’s   refrain features a duet of Giannis Serafim and Katerina Alysandratou (guest), on the female vocal lines. The part is impressive and the simultaneous singing is well structured (although the repetition of this long refrain is tiring). The sound of the EP is clear, transparent. However the guitars are weak (in terms of tone), totally lacking in depth, be it a conscious choice or not.   Regarding the band’s lyrics, they set off pretty good. Speaking of an inner affinity between the subject and his own (pneumatic) world, of the relentless past, of a change this world is in need for, plus, some ecological references also occur. In terms of context, this diversity is precious. The very metrics though (the technique) is pretty poor : grammar mistakes can be detected, and even if this is insignificant, the recycling of the same words cannot be (e.g “change’’, “faith” , “truth” etc.)  To sum up, these Swedish metallers from Katerini, lack not in inspiration, lack not in songwriting or “riffing”. Fate Got Black is a great effort, in overall, with the positives suppressing the drawbacks. By the way, Abysmal, the EP’s opening composition, is the most complete one, and thus, my favorite.

7.5/10  Stelios(Ω)