Sense of Noise – Debut Album Review

November 2021 – Dublin

I am going to write about something entirely new. It will be my first time listening to a Mexican metal band and my first melodic death metal interview. You are probably wondering how I got the idea to write this review. Well it’s quite simple. Sense of Noise is a band you just can’t overlook.

Having a quite unique approach in the Gothenburg Melodic Death Metal scene, their eye-catching videos and strong media presence, is a band you just can’t overlook. Especially, after their recent collaboration with Björn Speed for the song “Zero Killed” and producing the debut album at Fascination Street Studio you can’t ignore this band. The band themselves have stated they are heavily influenced by the Gothenburg Melodic Death Metal.

Time to find out if the debut album of Sense of Noise lives up the Gothenburg Melodic Death Metal Scene by discussing the music of the debut album, the artwork and the videos. In the end I will give a summary.

“THE QUESTION IS, IF THE MEXICAN METAL BAND SENSE OF NOISE LIVES UP TO THE GOTHENBURG MELODIC DEATH METAL SCENE”

MUSIC

Sense of Noise debut album is a loose collection of songs. For me they have the most interesting intro I have ever heard in my life. The “A Forgotten Oath” is an instrumental song that leans towards fantasy and power metal. As a result, you are starting to wonder, especially if you don’t know this band, what music they play. The next song “Broken Hope” has a modern touch and is much heavier, but you are still not entirely sure about the music style. When the singer starts to growl you slowly begin to realize you are listening to melodic metal! For those who are not used to this kind of vocals, the growls are quickly alternated by an instrumental part and clean vocals.

The further you go into the album, the heavier it becomes. Especially, “Zero Killed” is a heavy one and not without a good reason. The singer is joined by a guest vocalist, who we of course all know – Björn Speed Strid. The brutal growls of Björn and the lighter singing of Jerome are a nice contradiction to each other and give the song an extra dimension. It is also a fresh collaboration as I can’t recall a song with Björn Speed Strid which sounded similar.

“Dying Light” is a song I would like to point out as well. This song does something that no other melodic death metal bands has done – mixing Mexican desperado music with melodic death metal. Basically, you hear in the song acoustic guitars and a singing style similar to mariachis, as a result, you get a Spanish / Mexican vibe. Before you can dream away you are awoken by melodic death metal growls, as soon as you start to think this will be a normal death melodic song you are proven wrong, Sense of Noise is doing again something you would not expect – hymns!

In short, Sense of Noise is a nice debut album for those who are not into extreme metal to get familiar with this genre. It is a nice album also for the seasoned listeners as the debut album has nice surprises.

“SENSE OF NOISE DEBUT ALBUM IS FULL OF SUPRISES”

ARTWORK

The artwork of Sense of Noise is quite surprising as well. Lighter colours have been chosen and a sleek design for the words. Not entirely uncommon in the melodic death metal scene as Soilwork has the same approach. However, in my opinion Sense of Noise has the best artwork in the melodic death metal scene. The very reason for this is that the design fits contradictory music style. Like I said, the music part of the intro reminds you of fantasy and power metal and then looking at the artwork this impression is enhanced!

In short, the artwork highlights the lighter and atypical parts of Sense of Noise debut album.

VIDEOS

Half of the songs of the debut album are accompanied with a video. The one video which really stood out for me is “Our Dying Light”. The very reason for this is that this particular song gives the viewer a look behind the scenes. The start of the video displays the modern production of the music, that is to say instruments atypical for the melodic death metal scene like an acoustic guitar are displayed. Also, a bit further in the video you see the country where the band comes from: Mexico. In short, ‘Our Dying Light’ is a perfect video to have a taste of what Sense of Noise is all about.

Another video that comes very close is the lyric video “Morning Glory”. The whole video relies heavily on CGI and thus strengthening the whole modern production touch as well. Also, the colours and the image that have been chosen are quite eye-catching and contradicting the music style. In my opinion a great idea due to the sharp contrast in video and music style it is a song you won’t easily forget.

The other two videos are less impressive. They are leaning more towards a common melodic death metal video from Gothenburg, however I wouldn’t say it is a bad approach for “Zero Killed”. The song is not quite innovative, but it’s so familiar as it is very coherent with the music videos Soilwork/Bjorn themselves produce. As a consequence, it’s hard to overlook this collaboration and forget about the band. For this reason I would say the video “Zero Killed’ is a nice introduction to Sense of Noise.

Overall, the videos of Sense of Noise are modern, memorable and fitting well with the music. Also, the videos give a taste of what Sense of Noise is all about.

“THE MUSIC VIDEOS ARE A GREAT REPRESENTATION OF THE MEXICAN CULTURE”

SUMMARY

Sense of Noise is a bit lighter in tone compared to the melodic Gothenburg Melodic Death Metal scene of which the band draws its inspiration. However, I wouldn’t say it is a bad thing because the music is much more approachable for first time listeners of the melodic death metal scene. Moreover, it mixes their own Mexican culture with this scene which creates an extra layer of freshness.

Due to the contradictions and atypical elements in the music style as well as the artwork and videos Sense of Noise creates something new without losing their main inspiration.

“SENSE OF NOISE DEBUT ALBUM IS FULL OF CONTRADICTIONS WHICH WILL GIVE UNIQUE LISTENING EXPERIENCE“
MAIr