Picture of Pain is a Melodic Death Metal act that apparently formed in Norway back in 1995. Of course, you may never have heard of this act because the first recorded material to surface came ten years later with the release of their 2005 demo. Fast forward to fifteen years later since forming, and Picture of Pain finally records and unleashes their debut full-length effort, The Reckoning, which shows a great Progressive feel to the songs presented on this release. But, has that fifteen years of silence actually done any good?
The Progressive aspect is pretty evident in the music, mostly through the various changes in the music that sometimes work with the song, and sometimes don't, and are typically found in the longer tracks of the release like "Eternal Rage", though they still are present in some of the shorter tracks like "Deviator". The music to this album is great and just has a nice kick to it. The only problem is that, sometimes, it winds up being upset by the nasally vocal approach in the clean vocals. While this Ozzy Osbourne similar vocal performance isn't half bad, it just gets annoying after a little while, as it does slightly clash with the music, and often doesn't really change from the main pitch the singer uses, though sometimes, such as in "Deviator", he can reach a rather high, raspy falsetto level, which sounds great when the music becomes more intense. Of course, when it comes to the rhaspy Black Metal-esque screaming utilized on this release, it sounds fantastic. Right at the start of the album with "Betrayal", the blood will be pumping due to the sheer intensity of the music. The band's commanding performance hits the listener hard until the clean vocals kick in, which isn't a bad thing, but they quickly become abused and leave an empty feeling as the vocals take away from the menacing sound the screaming had.
As far as the clean vocals go, they work best during the slower parts of this song. The pitch and performance give off more of a Doom Metal inspired sound that some would say sounds reminiscent of Messiah Marcolin of Candlemass fame. "Sign of Times" really shows this fact nicely during it's slower moments, but during it's faster aspects, there's no denying this release would have benefitted from have some kind of deeper vocal approach if clean singing was found necessary, but the falsetto's that are belted out in the following track, "Years of Disgrace", show the higher pitched range this vocalist has, which is sad because it doesn't seem to be used as much as it should have been. Of course, "Years of Disgrace" is perhaps the most suiting track for both the band, as well as these vocals, and perfectly showcases the range from start to finish in a fluid manner that in no way becomes as repetitive as it can be, such as in "Betrayal" and "Eternal Rage".
Other then the vocal approach incorporated, the music to The Reckoning, again, is phenomenal. While "Years of Disgrace" is pretty much the perfect song for this band, leaving you wishing more compositions like this one had been made, there's still some other fantastic cuts on this release worth checking out. Despite the repetition in the clean singing, the harsher aspects of "Betrayal" are jaw dropping. The title track "The Reckoning" is another great slower paced track that showcases the band's talent, as well as showcases the vocal range nicely. The two bonus demo recordings at the end also serve as nice additions to the album, though including one, or both, of the band's demos on here as bonus tracks would have been nice, especially since the demo from 2005 was three songs long, and the demo of 2006 was onely two. Either way, these songs have the same performance and song composition that you would find on the newly recorded tracks for this release, but "From the Ashes" actually has some faster, more intense music to it then some of the other tracks, as well as some moving slower parts that are in the vein of the atmosphere given by tracks like "Sign of Times".
What it comes down to is basically getting adjusted to the vocal performance. The Reckoning is a fantastic, diverse album that has a lot of power to it, both in the faster, and slower musical aspects. The problem is that the vocals have a wide range, and it just feels like it's never properly explored, and can become a little repetitive after a while. If the band can work out how to incorporate that range, and make some of the timing and music changes within the songs fit more fluidly and not have them sound forced once in a while, then Picture of Pain will be one of those bands that will stand strong in the Metal world. Until then, this band will remain an act to keep an eye on.
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