Review of the Album Till Death Unites Us by Finnish Melodic Death Metal Band Norther

Finnish band Norther entered the year 2006 on a pretty good note after their Solution 7 EP. Their 2006 album called Till Death Unites Us once again explores some very dark lyrical themes such as dysfunctional relationships as in the first song called Throwing My Life Away. However, there are two flaws with this album that will drag down its quality and score a bit. The score will probably have to be no higher than 80 out of 100 points. Why is the album scored that high in spite of the flaws?

I have mentioned earlier that their lyrical themes were too dark much of the time and this may cause some fans to feel despondent or to turn away from the band’s music. What is meant by this analysis is that the formula of heavy riffs plus the chorus followed by the solo and then the heavy riffs and the chorus again is the same formula for this band which made them seem too generic. However, the riffs were strong and Petri’s voice is pretty good for a death metal vocalist. Another quality that lowers Norther’s status as a band compared to a few others is that their song titles especially on this album are a bit too grim. In spite of the talent of this band, they suffered from being a little too generic as a death metal band at times. Norther did too much of the heavy riffing with the fast solos and there was the same type of keyboard play. One thing that the band did is they added some clean vocals for the song called Omen.

The album also addresses what can happen to our minds and our life if we fill our mind with useless, chaotic thoughts. A mind left unchecked can lead to a whole set of life struggles and difficulties. One example of this kind of song is the one called Drowning. If we are drowning in a sea of thoughts of jealousy and betrayal, we will go nowhere but down. It is not worth it to stay in a toxic relationship if the other person is dishonest and does not respect us or our feelings. On the other end of the relationship topic, the song Everything is about what happens when the person we love has died or when they break up and end the relationship. It feels like everything that we had and everything that we cared for is now gone. We wonder if we can live without the other person.Lyrically, the song Omen is like the song Everything. These two songs lyrically tell the story of a man that is heartbroken because he lost the person that he loves. He sees her in dreams and he wakes up feeling isolated and alone.

After this impressive show of heaviness and speed comes another good song called Alone in the End. The song is basically about the fact that we are alive in this present moment and that we have to face our fears. We have to try and fight to get to a better world but in the end we will be alone after we die. Fate is a cruel thing as humans have to unfortunately experience the end of life.

My favorite song is the two minute long fast, heavy song called F*** You which is an extremely fast song about someone that thinks that by spreading rumors and false information about other people that he can elevate himself to a higher level. In reality, he is making himself become a toxic person to be rejected by others. I guess they took a page out of Pantera’s book while trying to construct one of the heaviest and fastest songs in the history of death metal. This song is just pure speed but it is a very exciting kind of fast song which will leave you wanting to come back for more. In life, try not to take any nonsense from anyone and don’t lower your values to please other people.

The other strong songs on this album are Throwing My Life Away, Drowning, Everything, and Omen. It is not the band’s best album and it still falls short of matching their 2002 debut called Dreams of Endless War.