• New Music Reviews
• |
• Archives
• |
• News
• |
• Submissions
• |
• About
• |
• 
• |
• 

November 2024

• Voodoo Circle: Hail To The King
• Lionville: Supernatural
• Starchaser: Into The Great Unkown
• Empires Of Eden: Guardians Of Time
• Lonerider: Down In The Dust
• Seventh Crystal: Entity
• Neal Morse & The Resonance: No Hill For A Climber
• Beardfish: Songs For Beating Hearts
• Impellitteri: War Machine
• Brothers Of Metal: Fimbulvinter

October 2024

• Casandra's Crossing: Garden Of Earthly Delights
• DGM: Endless
• Daytona: Garder la Flamme
• Fate: Reconnect 'N Ignite
• Frost*: Life In The Wires
• Aries Descendant: From The Ashes Of Deceit
• Fans Of The Dark: Video
• Radioactive: Reset
• House Of Lords: Full Tilt Overdrive
• Cleanbreak: We Are The Fire

September 2024

• Sinner's Blood: Dark Horizons
• Serious Black: Rise Of Akhenaton
• Eclipse: Megalomanium II
• SteelCity: Reverence
• Hydra: ReHydrated
• Heartwind: III
• Gabrielle De Val and the Dragonlords: Tiger
• Find Me: Nightbound
• The Nail: The Nail
• Timeless Fairytale: A Story To Tell
• Stryper: When We Were Kings
• Phil Mogg: Moggs Motel
• Pure Reason Revolution: Coming Up To Consciousness
• Jordan Rudess: Permission To Fly

August 2024

• Siege Perilous: Creation's Call EP
• Paralydium: Universe Calls
• Mike Tramp: Songs Of White Lion Vol. II
• Bite The Bullet: Looking For Paradise
• All For Metal: Gods Of Metal (Year Of The Dragon)
• Hammerfall: Avenge The Fallen
• Jim Peterik & World Stage: Roots & Shoots Vol. 2

[ More Music Reviews ]

To Die For: Samsara

Melodic Heavy/Gothic Rock/Metal

3.5/5.0

Website Facebook Twitter YouTube-->
Massacre Records
by Craig Hartranft,  07.20.2012

Samsara is my first experience with the Finnish band To Die For. It's likely because the haven't released any new material since 2006, about the time Dangerdog started, and then disband shortly after. Samsara, a sanskrit term meaning the repeating cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth, is a fitting title for the album. To Die For has been reborn as a cadre of original, past and new members.

To Die For: looking totally bummed.

If you look most anywhere, from Wikipedia to Massacre's promo sheet, TDF is often referred to as a gothic metal band. The whole 'gothic' thing has always been a bit slippery for me. Certainly there's a dark, more melancholy, side to their music. Death Comes in March and Loves a Sickness could qualify.

But there's much here that sounds like good old melodic heavy metal. Yes, perhaps a bit more haunting in places, but melodic metal nonetheless. Kissing the Flames, Damned Rapture, and Cry For Love could fit this description. That last song, Cry For Love, could easily pass for a rocker, a radio-friendly one at that. Then there's some strange tunes here. Both Oblivion Vision and Someday Somewhere Somehow have a strange feeling to them. The is light and haunting, yet seems directionless. The latter probably strikes closer to the gothic metal of the mid-Nineties, yet feels like there's a traditional heavy metal monster clawing to get out at the end.

Nevertheless, Samsara finds the reborn To Die Far digging deep to find the spark and music that gave them early success. I think longtime fans will dig this album.

Addendum: this album was complete DIY project, from recording to release in 2011, the band did the work. It's been picked up by Germany's Massacre Records, which how it came to Dangerdog Music Reviews, for European release; I don't know if it's available in the States.

Listen, Buy, Download To Die For - Samsara

Samsara finds the reborn To Die Far digging deep to find the spark and music that gave them early success. I think longtime fans will dig this album.

Alphabetical Index

eviewing my archives, I was pleased to find that I have had the privilege to review every Lionville since their self-titled debut in 2011. Formed by Stefano Lionetti, a songwriter, singer and guitarist based in ... [ Read More ]