Review: "Anatomy of Life" by Finnish Melodic Death Metal Band Noumena

Finnish melodic death metal band Noumena released their 2006 album called "Anatomy of Life" and they have done a solid job once again. The first song called Misanthropolis is a song about a certain city that has closed up all of its gates. It is a city that has no willingness or space to accept humans. The song has beautiful guitar work and some female vocals mixed in which offer a good contrast. I call that a well-thought out plan by the band as the vocals can definitely be understood. Antti Haapanen’s guttural vocals remain unchanged. He has a rougher version of vocal style compared to Tomi Koivusaari of Amorphis. The song has the style of early Amorphis such as what we would hear on Tales from the Thousand Lakes.

The next song Burden of Solacement has a definite In Flames influence. The guitar work is influenced by Colony era In Flames music. Retrospection is a mid-tempo song about someone that has spent his time being filled with rage and he plans to take his anger out on something else.

The song called Monument of Pain starts out with some acoustic guitar reminiscent of the In Flames song called Zombie Inc. The song basically makes reference to the cruelty that man has brought upon man as wars and conflict have led to bodies being buried in mass graves. The female vocals are provided by Hanna Leinonen. Anatomy of Life has a sort of gloomy feel to it similar to the band Tristania even though these Finnish guys write superb songs. There are very few Finnish bands that I’ve listened to that I did not like very much. Most Finnish metal bands are quite good or terrific. In the song Monument of Pain I hear a Lacuna Coil influenced Gothic rock part similar to their Unleashed Memories album (think of the song When a Dead Man Walks). It is important for humans to never forget what has been done in the past and to never repeat these kinds of actions.

The next song called Triumph and Loss sounds similar to a song that Gothic rock band End of You would write but Noumena speed things up in this song. The song Marionettes once again has that In Flames influence. The slower song called Fire and Water describes what happens in nature when fire and water mix. When there is creation, there is also decay when humans die. The album’s cover shows a girl that is clearly sad, depressed, and forlorn as she is surrounded by skulls and a black crow. The cover is a good description of Noumena’s lyrical themes however, this should not be a deal breaker for fans of the melodic death metal genre. Anatomy of Life is a very good album but it cannot match the 2005 album Absence.

Final grade: 80 out of 100 points (B)