TARTHARIA - ABSTRACT NATION - CRASH
Tartharia's biography claims that the Finnish band's last work, the A Secret Device EP, received complimentary comments from the metal community. While my first reaction was that such a thing was highly improbable unless the band had changed styles since that release, it did occur to me quickly thereafter that such a stunt should not have been too difficult to achieve given how the metal press gives nearly every release a positive review. Simply put, the metal press is the record companies' prostitute and will give anything a positive review lest the labels cut off the supply of free promos or advertising.
Sure, as far as Finnish bands go Tartharia is not the worst, but that is not saying much. The band, centered around a core duo, has music that goes back and forth between a lesser Iced Earth and a pedestrian Dimmu Borgir wanna-be. The production is average and the dreadful sound of keyboards and the incessant rattle of the drum machine seal the coffin shut. Listening to the band's simplified and rudimentary outro hammers the point home that this band's musicianship is not what it should be. The vocals oscillate between Carcass-styled screams and a deeper growl and as much as this might, well not really, have sufficed in 1990 the supposed extremity of vocals does next to nothing for the band in 2004. After all, growls and screams mean nothing when performed with as much feeling as a capitalist in a homeless shelter.
One has to admire the ability of these Finnish musicians to translate almost any band to a signed act, but that does not mean that there is a market for drab stuff like this. - Ali "The Metallian"