Stay Pure D.I.Y

Fifth to Infinity - 'Omnipotent Transdimentional Soulfire' - Full-lenght - 2015

Fifth to Infinity is a band formed back in 1997 by Martin Mendez, Martin Lopez and Nader Jonas Reslan in Sweden, after the disbandment of the black metal gang Vinterkrig. Officially their first album was planned to be released in 2000, but due to some problems and delays it went out a year later. As time passed and not far from then, the band suffered a split-up and went under the curtain, only to be revived in 2007 by Nader. In the new formation of Fifth to Infinity, Nader recruited Martin Lopez in 2008, later replaced. The full line-up was completed in 2013 with the coming of David Lindh. Nader is the guitarist and vocalist and his only previous band is Vinterkrig. The ex-drummer Martin Lopez is a drummer with quite a career, featuring bands like Opeth, Amon Amarth and Soen in his past. The ex-member Martin Mendez was also a member in Opeth. On this album the drums are played by Joakim Borgman. At last, David Lindh plays the bass and his only previous act has been Yvonne. This trio works hard on producing some deep and dark doom/black metal with a certain dose of death metal influence, just enlarging the vast Swedish dark metal scene which is a great place to start up with a metal band. The album I am going to review came out this year and it has kind of complicated name, the types of names I do not prefer, but the music is more important anyways.

‘Omnipotent transdimensional soulfire’ has 9 compositions and a spinning time of less than an hour. To sum it up, the production is kind of good, but some parts, especially the guitars seem disconnected between each-other. Maybe the overall volume of all of them is too high and the sound gets ruined in the race of trying to sound louder. The issue is noticeable starting with the four minute ‘Intro’. One guitar keeps same melody flowing, while the other combines sounds and intensifies the atmosphere, yet interfering with the first. It makes the common listener feel like something is about to happen soon. The expectations fulfill with the following ‘Reapers wake’ which it is a pretty simple songs, with some good acoustic parts and contradictory brutal bridges leading to slow distortions and double kicks on the drum. Purposely the song is mid-paced imprisoning the anger aggregated for the next one. And now is ‘Masters unbound’, unfortunately the best composition on the album. Why unfortunately? - Just because after this one everything drowns in dullness. ‘Masters unbound’ is pretty much the highlight and it’s just the third song. It’s hard and brutal with constant hardcore breakdowns. Think of the breakdown as a tasty pastry, and whatever you put on it, the taste will be as good as before. The breakdown is covered with melodies, clean guitars, synths and same patterns, but it doesn’t lose the brilliance. The follow up ‘The fall of the seven’ may be considered as intense as the previous one, mostly because of the constant double kick on the drums. This is the fastest song on the album and has thoughtful laid-off guitars and disharmony sounds. ‘The will to harm’ should have been the culmination, because it is in the middle of the album. But I am afraid that this is the point where the band goes ‘softer’. It is a mid-paced to slow song, which really lacks on character and excitement, as well as the composition after named ‘Death shall wake us all’. It was hard even to listen to them until they finish, hoping some life will be injected in the album, but I was wrong. Trough ‘Secrets of the bottom’ and ‘The promise the abyss’, Fifth to Infinity just prove to me that my cup of tea maybe isn’t cooked in their kitchen. Both of these song sound like late Metallica slow songs, accompanied with screaming vocals and creepy background. Even the names for the songs aren’t that thoughtful. The finisher is ‘The blessings of annihilation’ and maybe saves the album a little bit. Finally some dynamics can be felt in the music and more harsh approach to the whole concept of metal as it is. This is the longest song on the album.

‘Omnipotent transdimensional soulfire’ was off to a great start and began having some serious downfall in the second half. I would consider it more of an ambient oriented music rather than some serious metal, but that is just me.