I saw One Without at Yeah Festivalen in 2009 and this Swedish modern metal band was really good on stage, they also managed to bring the same energy onto their debut album "Thoughts of a secluded mind" that was released on Lifeforce records in September the same year. One Without features Catrin Feymark - Lead Vocals, Kenny Boufadene - Guitar/Bass/Screams, Joonas Niskanen - Guitar and Olle Töpel - Drums. They have spent the last couple of years writing plenty of songs for their follow up "Sweet relief" and with the result in my hands, I can only come to the conclusion that they decided to record and release all new songs because the new album is filled to max with 17 tracks.
I liked their first album a lot and also think the new album is pretty good but I´m not sure it was a good idea to use all 17 tracks, I get the feeling some of these tracks should´ve been saved as b-sides to future singles. I know lengthy albums demand higher quality within the songs, there are not enough of that strong material for me to maintain some sort of interest throughout the entire album. The band rock hard on "Hunger" and "Spit it out" which will work very well live, the single "Pretender" is another nice song but the best tracks are without doubt "Accusing eyes" and "This is war". A good band that I don´t mind seeing live again.
