review by: Roberto Martinelli

My roommate walked by my room while I had The Cold, White Light playing and asked me what the name of the band was. When I said "Sentenced," he told me he thought it was Metallica. That's not too far off. Sure, for the connoisseur, the bands are worlds apart, but there are some fundamental similarities between the two groups.

The first is the singing style of Ville Laihiala, which often goes into a gravely, melodic register that sounds a lot like James Hetfield. However, Laihiala is far more talented and versatile than Hetfield, being able to actually sing, and do so well, when the need arises. Musically, Sentenced has some similarities with 90's Metallica; That is, is 90's Metallica were more metal and laced their music with Goth influences.

The first few tracks on The Cold, White Light are instantly memorable and enjoyable. Things start to get a little iffy around the middle of the album. Such is the case on "Excuse Me While I Kill Myself," which is a good enough tune, but the corny way in which lyrics about blowing one's brains against the wall to show the world are incorporated into the chorus is cringeworthy.

Even if Sentenced swears to you that their band isn't just a suicide themed band, don't believe it. I wish they would quit it with this stuff. Yes, Finns are very depressed as a people and they kill themselves a lot, but the way Sentenced makes this a theme in their pop/Goth metal only seems silly. Another dud on the album is the song "Guilt and Regret," which is again an attempt to seem suicidal and morbid, but is merely a tedious song that goes nowhere.

In fact, all the lyrics on The Cold, White Light are pretty bad, but sometimes the songs are so good that it doesn't matter. The suicide thing not only seems like some weak attempt at originality (besides, Bethlehem already did it, and did it infinitely better), but it's totally in bad taste. The promo package that came with the album included a "hand written" list of things to do that went something like "1. Buy new Sentenced, 2. Listen, 3. Kill myself." This would not have been worth mentioning except that the package also contained this letter about some major fan of Sentenced who had committed suicide. Even though the words of the message were about how much the band would miss him, the message came across as a shameless, hollow plug of the suicide angle. It was corporate flavored promotion at its worst.

I don't know how much the band itself has to do with these promotional angles. Regardless, The Cold, White Light is an album with a good deal to offer. Just to make sure you know, Sentenced is almost nothing like it was on Amok and nothing like the death metal days of North from Here. The mainstream, Goth flavor of the album may turn a number of people off, but the CD is certainly at least worth a try.