Review of the Album "Mimesis" by Finnish Gothic Metal Band End of You

Finnish Gothic metal band End of You really captured my attention years ago with really terrific songs such as Virtual Way of Me and Over and Out. Their 2008 studio release called Mimesis may be even better than their 2006 album called Unreal. The album’s lyrical themes are mainly about human qualities, feelings, and emotions. Right from the beginning, they start with a very good song that is Paradise Lost influenced called Better God. The very catchy song that has a good bass line called You Deserve More is a song about making sure that we become better human beings by rejecting those people that try to brainwash you with lies and deception. The way to save ourselves is to trust our values and principles making sure that they are good proper values and principles. There is also a cover performance of the song Goldeneye originally written by Tina Turner. The song Memoir is a song that addresses the issue of deception because some people will go to great lengths to deceive and trick others and the song should be a clue how human nature has been prone to lying and deception.

The song Over and Out may be the best song in this album and it is certainly one of my favorite songs from this band. The song is about being ready to go to war at a moment’s notice as the defense contractors are set to make millions of dollars from the profits of endless war. The song tells the story of an endless fight for survival. But during wartime, the only winners are the defense contractors.

Paper Trails lyrically is a song that is a little different than all the others. It describes a situation where a person feels like they are working too hard and not really getting to anywhere that is good because they have also been influenced to believe that they cannot change their life situation no matter what they do. A bigger philosophical question to ask ourselves is how can a soldier that goes off to war be suffering with pride? The soldier being described in the song Over and Out believes that there is a better way to fight this war with victory being achieved in the end. Blind Rhythm has a sort of techno beat added to it and the song is about someone that is being told to stop their hate because these feelings are getting old for the people around that person. The song is actually on a deeper level about a relationship that has gone wrong.

The 8^th song on this album ironically enough is called Number 8. It also represents a kind of exploration by vocalist Jami Pietila as he uses whispers for his vocals in most of this song. The song is about a person that is turning the corner as the hate he had been feeling is now subsiding. But since he is not the man that he used to be, this is very unfamiliar territory for him because he is not used to being a better person than he once was. All of us have a chance to improve if we really make the effort to want to be better.

The album ends with the soft song called In Elegance (Closure). The song is a song about a person that is ending a friendship that has not worked out because one person is blaming the other person for the mistakes that have been made without considering that they too might have made mistakes. The album “Mimesis” is a solid Gothic metal album by a band that should have gotten more recognition worldwide.