Style: Gothic Metal (mixed vocals)
Review by: Sabrina
Country: Finland
Release date: June 25, 2021
So, the story I’ve read over and over about this project is that the main creative mind behind Endless Chain, Timo Mölsä, had his “musical awakening” in 2016 where he started learning how to play instruments and write music. From what I’ve read from the artist bio, and from what I can gather from the themes of Forthcoming Past, I can conclude that this project is the product of one man’s midlife crisis. To begin existentially living life to its fullest, Timo Mölsä had begun to reconnect with the rest of reality, and with his inner potential, through the creative process of making music. Specifically, through recreating gothic metal tropes with a slight progressive edge. Hence, the reason why there are a bajillion features and guest musicians that play and sing on this album, some of which are from Kreator, Waltari, and Dawn of Solace. And It looks like the reception to this album is relatively good as it’s gotten fairly positive reviews, and that the album has gotten into a few big outlets to sell their CDs; thanks to Rockshot Records.
While this album is definitely not bad by any stretch, it definitely suffers from a number of downfalls that will keep it from reaching a higher level of competency when compared to some of the album’s peers. But when everything is considered, especially Timo Mölsä’s background being relatively new to this album creation thing, I can’t be too hard on him. It is better than what I would probably make if I suddenly had 4 years to compose, perform, mix and produce an album.
I wish to begin discussing where this album succeeds. For one, you can tell that the passion is there, and that this is not a lazily made album. Additionally, there are almost no bad performances on the album. Timo Mölsä had chosen all the guest spots well as they make up a majority of the highlights on the album. Mölsä may not have the best technical ability, especially in progressive metal, but this does not stop him from including people who are really good at what they do. If one can’t shred, it only makes sense to get someone who can for their guitar solos. Mölsä has fairly decent songwriting abilities, he writes his songs very straight-forward and simple, in a verse, chorus, verse kind of format. He knows how to write melodies that are relatively catchy and how to layer the instruments in most of his songs fairly competently.
A couple of the surprising high points on the album are in the ballads which are actually done fairly well. The guest vocalists do an exceptional job in some of these and really capture the passion and emotion that these songs were written for. The duet on “Feel” featuring Salla Sundberg and Mikko Heikkilä is performed beautifully, and musically coerces me to hum along to the melody. Additionally, “The Memories” is another ballad that reminds me why this album was written: to fight the prospect of an upcoming destruction of the self, this is a mournful ballad about the human condition and how we cope with growing older.
This being said, however, Forthcoming Past ultimately fails to deliver a good cohesive experience. In the end, the music of Endless Chain does not really present anything new and really relies on old gothic/doom metal tropes. All of the songs are written very simplistically, especially for something with a progressive metal label. This means if you are not a fan of one of the verses, saturated guitar chords, or main melodies then you are kind of stuck with that the entire time. And there were plenty of moments on this album that had me pretty unamused. Additionally, while the guest musicians all do well with their parts, this constantly shifting of who the main vocalist is or who is playing the guitar on what part takes away from the cohesiveness and unification of the album’s listening experience. This is not to say that this always takes away from the whole of an album, but it does in this particular case. I have listened to other bands who have an album that is made mostly of features. I love a lot of Ayreon albums to death for instance. But the writer must do this with exceptional care in order to highlight the guest musician’s individual strengths instead of just using them as fillers or mechanical replacements; which is how Endless Chain tends to feel.
In the end, this album is very hit or miss and is not the most amazing album to have to listen to front to back, but the passion is there. And given the album’s context, I can say that Timo Mölsä’s efforts were not in vain. There certainly are a lot of good peaks scattered throughout this album. Who knows. Perhaps those who are bigger fans of this style of gothic metal will find more in this album than I have.
Recommended tracks: Forthcoming Past, Feel, The Memories, They’re the Ones Who Fall
Recommended for fans of: Dawn of Solace, Green Carnation, Katatonia, (early) Anathema, Amorphis
Final verdict: 6/10
Related links: Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: Rockshots Records – Website | Facebook
Endless Chain is:
– Timo Mölsä (guitars, bass, keyboards)
– Samuli Mikkonen (drums)
– Mikko Heikkilä (vocals)
– Ville Hovi (vocals)
– Aki Salonen (vocals)
– Salla Sundberg (vocals)
– Antti Kolehmainen (cello)
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