Rein

When the first notes of the self-titled demo of Rein from France started to play, they took me by surprise. By the frozen cover, the logo and the band’s name written in Celtic write, I was expecting to listen to the usual epic-pagan Black Metal. Rein were formed in 2010 and they consist of five members and the demo I have in my possession is their first release which was recorded between 2010 and 2012 and it was released in December of 2012. The album contains five tracks, the two of which are atmospheric, instrumental intros, one is a cover of the track 732 of Orthanc and the rest two are the compositions their own. As you have understood, musically the band has a very different style of that I was expecting to listen, something that I can say not only it didn’t disappointed me but it made me to listen the album with more attention.

So, here we will find frozen, brutal Black Metal, with nice tremolo riffs in the rhythmic parts and brutal-heavy riffs in the fast parts. The riffs have obvious influences by the Scandinavian sound, they put out that cold feeling that we would feel in a snowy forest and consequently the color which is ruling inside the images that the listener is creating in its head, is white. In some parts also, the band is expressing melancholy, but always under the cold atmosphere that rules the tracks. The riffs are somehow repetitive but the structure of the tracks fits to the style of the compositions which are quite interesting. The cover to the track of Orthanc keeps the character of the original track, having added also their personal elements.

Technically all the instruments are played without mistakes and they deliver the feeling with much accuracy. The guitars are cold, quite distorted without making the listen difficult. The bass can be heard clearly, it has beautiful lines and it fills the sound very well. There is a difficulty in listening to the drums as the sound of the cymbals covers the rest of the drums. However their lines are good, without having anything special. The vocals depending on the part and the feeling they become either harsh, raw Black vocals or dirty, heavy, very brutal vocals which approach much Death Metal. The thing that will annoy is the sound. The band obviously wants to keep a character of rehearsal, with the least possible interference in the studio. On one hand, that character fits to the style of the compositions. But on the other hand, the sound is so dirty and fuzzy that in some parts you can’t listen to all the instruments and vocals clearly. The lyrics are written in French and they are not contained in the album.

Generally the first effort of Rein creates mixed feelings. Concerning the composition, the band, by the small sample that they offer in this release, shows that it has talent and it can create interesting compositions. But the sound which makes the listen quite difficult, it will discourage a big part of the fans to listen to this demo. However if the listener gets over the problem with the sound and manage to focus to the music, he will discover a very talented band. I can’t suggest it to you because of the sound but I listened to it pleasantly, of course when I got used to the sound. For sure if they pay more attention to it, their next release will be good. We will wait.