Independent Release
Reviews by Tony Cannella
Released in 2004, “Drowned in Your Tears” is the first recorded output from the Finnish band Teardown. Even though this is their first attempt, their sound is rawer and the production is not as good as what came after. Still, for fans of the band it is an interesting look at how Teardown started and has progressed over the years.
“Stolen by Sorrow” opens things on an up-tempo, energetic pace. “Iced Heart” is a bit slower and has a heavy, doomy quality to it. “Dust” is next and opens up acoustically, like a lot of the bands material as the heavy guitars join in. Even though the final track, “Drowned in Your Tears” opens with a slower pace it quickly speeds up and shows what this excellent melodic metal band is capable of. This is my favorite track and a solid ending. For a first attempt, “Drowned in Your Tears” is a solid debut from Teardown. In my opinion, the band has gotten better over the years, but “Drowned in Your Tears” is an honest effort and 18-minutes well spent.
Rating – 78/100
Tracklist
- Stolen by Sorrow
- Iced Heart
- Dust
- Drowned in Your Tears
Released in 2006, “Cold Rooms” is the EP and second release from Finland’s Teardown. It is occasionally a pretty cool thing to re-visit earlier works to see how a band has progressed over the years and with “Cold Rooms”, Teardown in no different. “Cold Rooms” features 4-songs and 18-minutes worth of melodic heavy metal that – at times – can be quite infectious.
“Where Are You Now?” opens acoustically before the heavier, straight-forward metal guitars join in. This song showcases Teardown in all their melodic metal glory. Next is the melancholic “Until I Met You”. Although it again starts off with a slower pace, this song morphs into one of the heavier tracks in the Teardown catalog. “Disappointment” maintains a heavy base, but has a slower tempo – but still heavy and melodic. “Cold Rooms” draws the EP to a close as this song alternates between heavy guitars and acoustic guitars to create a solid finish.
While “Cold Rooms” is a pretty good sophomore offering from Teardown it definitely hints at better things to come. “Cold Rooms” also showcases a band that is capable of having mainstream appeal, while still staying true to their metal roots.
Rating – 82/100
Tracklist
- Where Are You Now?
- Until I Met You
- Disappointment
- Cold Rooms
The Finnish band Teardown has previously released three demos/EPs. Their last one “Cyonitic” came in 2008, now this excellent band from Finland returns with three songs and 20-minutes worth of music called “Signs of (In)Humanity”.
I don’t know if “Signs of (In)Humanity” is any better or worse than their previous work, but with these three songs, Teardown continues to maintain a consistency with their music. “Dead Cry For the Sun” kicks things off with a rumbling guitar riff and maybe a more laid back tempo than one might assume for an opening track. Still, it’s a pretty good song, which rides a cool guitar riff all the way to the songs conclusion. “It Remains Untold” is next and starts off with a trippy almost psychedelic vibe, before the heavy guitars come crashing in along with the keyboards which gives the song some atmosphere. The final song “Everything Ends Here” has a haunting, dark quality to it and is also the longest song at 7-minutes. This is also the best song in the Teardown repertoire (in my opinion). With “Signs of (In)Humanity”, Teardown continues to head down a path that could, hopefully, one day, sometime soon, produce a full-length album, they certainly have been building up a strong enough collection of songs that will allow this to happen.
Rating – 85/100
Tracklist
- Dead Cry For the Sun
- It Remains Untold
- Everything Ends Here
Line Up
- Katja Pieksämäki – Vocals
- Jari Kinnunen – Guitar
- Sami Ahmaoja – Guitar
- Mika Laine – Bass
- Pipsa Niemi – Keyboards
- Arto Pieksämäki – Drums