Aittala-Bed of thorns

Self-produced
2009

Once I saw song titles that included "Another Dirty Whore", "Torture", "Left for Dead" and "Sadistic Charm" I knew this wasn't going to be get up and get happy kind of album. It's fairly downbeat and even harsh in the lyrics and the music follows along with that mood. Eric Aittala handles most of the duties on this album so I am guessing that many of the songs are personal to him or at least his ideas. Now most of the songs are dark and moody, but the musical style very as they include hard rock, metal, doom and others. Aittala handles the vocals well even in the various musical styles. There are times where the music starts to drag, but his vocal melodies always revive the song and keep it going strong. I am not huge on the use of keyboards here, but they don't exactly hold any other part of the music back. The guitars are generally strong and versatile with some splendid solos. The overall sound at times reminds me of mid-70's Alice Cooper and even KISS only far more complicated musicaly and more serious in the overall tone and presentation. The playing talent is obvious and that's the strength of this album and what makes it worth hearing. What holds it back in mind is a mopey feel to several songs that I think holds back what could have been done. I understand the topics are dark and meant to be so, but I think that on several times that the flow of the album is hampered by an overall moodiness. Instead storming ahead the songs sometimes get bogged down. Still there is a great deal here to appreciate and I heard enough to potential to be interested in what comes out next from this band.