DecoyMusic.com

Melodic death metal is not a new genre. In Flames and At the Gates pioneered the sound we all recognize many years ago. More bands than I like to count have shamelessly ripped off this genre's staple sounds, doing nothing new or unique, being content to phone it in. Going against this trend, Nothnegal, who hail from Maldives, have put together a solid debut that takes the best of the melodic death metal sound, executes it expertly, and then tosses in a number of symphonic and industrial elements to set the band apart just enough from their peers. If the band can successfully build on this debut in the future, we could be looking at one of the new trendsetters in the MDM realm.