Engel

This new band is one of those minor supergroups, featuring members from several well-known Swedish bands, and is one of a trio of groups that eventually emerged following the disbanding of The Crown (guitarist Niclas Engelin is the leader here). In due time a debut album was released in 2007, in the form of Absolute Design. This slots best under the melodic death banner, but more the modern version rather than the classic style that In Flames and Dark Tranquillity pioneered back in the day. Here, there are traces of metalcore and even nu-metal (particularly the downtuned guitars) thrown into the mix, and typical modern vocals that alternate between a hardcore-ish scream and clean chorus vocals. While there are some decent ideas here, overall Absolute Design isn't terribly unique. It's certainly not a bad album (the pedigree of the various members prevents that), but it never really establishes itself as anything more than just another new-millennium aggressive melodeath-core album. Apparently some industrial elements have been introduced in subsequent albums.

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Discography

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