### Mely: Portrait of a porcelain doll

#### 13/03/09 || Kampfar

Mely is a gothic metal orchestra hailing Austria as home, in other words, this album was sent to us.

When signing up for this review I didn’t know what to expect, but the title, “Portrait of a porcelain doll”, undeniably hint towards something incredibly horrid. It’s not like I mind doing horrid albums, it makes for easy reviewing, so therefore it was a letdown to discover that them here Austrians aren’t the epitome of suck after all. Oh well, I guess I have to bite into the sour apple and make this a nuanced and boring review then. As it turns out, very short as well.

First of all, the guitar tone is really rather fine, at the very least a hell lot finer than you’d expect a gothic metal band to feature, and many of them riffs are also quite alright. This is especially true up till circa halfway through, for after that they obviously found it wise to add some more softness, most likely because their tender fanbase would run back to H.I.M if not. But even when they shift from soft to too soft, well, this bunch of reserve-Germans still know how to craft a song. Sure, it gets a bit samey and tame, but it never ever sounds as if they haphazardly threw together any of the songs.

Secondly, they do know how to play their instruments. Thirdly, it’s produced really rather well. Fourthly, the vocals don’t take a piss all over the effort. Ah, fucking hell, time for the summary already.

I’ve heard music far, far worse than this, but I nonetheless doubt many, or any, of our readers will have an interest in what’s on offer here.

5,5 out 10.

- Information
- Released: 2009
- Label: Silverwolf Records
- Website: www.mely.at
- Band
- Andreas Mataln: vocals, guitar
- Peter Lengfeldner: vocals, bass
- Daniel Huber: bass
- Martin Mataln: keyboard
- Hannes Ganeider: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Of doubts and fears
- 02. Grown for doom
- 03. Bricks against porcelain dolls
- 04. Don’t wake the sleeping dog
- 05. Hell low
- 06. It is cold without shoes
- 07. Maybe yesterday
- 08. Sweet six feet
- 09. My addiction