review ???/??? (I lost count my bad) Moments to Remain by Act of Creation. Yeah ik amusingly generic names for both the band and the album. They sound AI generated. Thankfully the music isn't as forgettable. Overall I thought the album suffered from a lack of variety and originality, but at the same time it feels like it was made with confidence, meaning that the creative muddiness on display is not a product of the band's lack of experience or talent. Maybe their taste just differs from my own a little too much, maybe it's just a mediocre album and I'm making excuses for them. It's not that there aren't any standout moments, the problem is that they're all one offs (as opposed to being traditional hooks that you'd hear at least 2-3 times in a given track) and they're just kind of strewn across the album at random. it's like there's no rhyme or reason to the "melo" in "melodeath" here, it's there but it feels like it was applied with a shotgun blast. I hope I'm making myself understood

Leaving aside my redditor ass's distaste for unconventional song structure, one specific aspect of the album that I enjoyed was the vocals. I have no idea who the singer is but she (yes it's a girl again) employs my favorite brand of growling which is not about sounding brootal for the sake of it but simply a vocal technique that's more fitting for the music being played and the lyrics being sung. She doesn't do stupid pig squeals or anything bizarre or melodramatic, she just growls the lyrics, while still very much singing. I like that. There are some short parts where she sings cleans but those are nothing special. Awake, Come With Me, Under Friendly Fire and Egoist were my favorite tracks. I think they showcase the band at their best doing what they should've been doing in every other song, i.e. playing Cradle of Filth inspired melodeath. I'm sorry if that's too commercial a style for some, I just like it better. The album kind of tapers off after a very strong start IMO. The band is undoubtedly good but I hope the next album will have more of that stuff and less of the boring, uninspired yet kind of pretentious heavy-for-the-sake-of-heaviness slop. 7.5/10