Century Media
2005
The Funeral Album
About This Album
Starting in the early '90s, Sentenced was one of the pioneering bands who helped set Finland on the path to a prominent position on the world's heavy metal map. And even if that position would mostly reap benefits for a younger generation of metal acts, Sentenced's popularity seemed to increase steadily through the years, in accordance with their radical evolution from rough-and-tumble death metal to a sleeker, more commercial style. Even so, one would have to be a blind apologist to deny that the group's albums -- much like those of countrymen and contemporaries Amorphis -- had started sounding a little safe and formulaic as the years wore on. So, whether this was a result of their becoming too comfortable in their niche to come up with enough new tricks, or simply lacking the fire and urgency that only youthful desire can inspire, one couldn't help but be filled with a morbid sense of anticipation when Sentenced gave fair warning that 2005's Funeral Album would be their swan song. What can you do? Nothing piques listener nostalgia quite like the finality of impending death, but, remove that understanding and the fact that numerous tracks here ("Lower the Flags," "Consider Us Dead," and "End of the Road," among others) discuss mortality in no uncertain terms, and what you have is another exceedingly well-conceived but still mostly unsurprising Sentenced LP.
Track List (try tracks 1,6,8,10 and 12)

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