Eclipse 'zine # 6 
|
"So, another Finns with their piece of music. And with a good one as everyone can hear from the very beginning. First thing that strikes my ear is a very clear and full sound; especially ( bass ) drums sound absolutely great ! The second strike is the vocal. High pitched hateful scream does possess a certain charm yet it is more similar to the raw Gothenburg vocal style than the blackish screams. Vocalist tries not to bore with one and only ( though very good ) style and employs some deeper parts, spoken passages ( with a little influence of Mr. Maniac yet not so narcissistic ) as well as great hysterical crying ( he could have used a lot more of this one ). Guitars are very melodic, playing some good composed themes, but sometimes a little predictable and repeatable ( just a little - I'm just too hard to satisfy ) … and actually are not into black metal very much but more into the melodic death thing. One can hear also good solos and lead themes underlined by good work of the studio engineer, cause the sound really helped the final ( emotional ) outcome a lot. Same thing with keyboards. They are not that dominant ( only in the calm parts ), more than decent in fact, standing above the boring standard which mostly younger sisters of guitarists create in other bands. It is a pity that the bass is only a rhythmical instrument here, but does its job as such in a good manner. Speaking of rhythmical section - the drummer is one of those that are able to play fast parts properly moreover he is absolutely certain and 100% tight all the time. And as he uses large variety of rhythms I'll keep it short - he is good and with his style absolutely fitting the needs of Astray. Lyrics are a pleasant surprise for me ( let aside that they are in fact a little straight for my taste ), yet I somehow can't fully identify myself with them. Package is of the beautiful digipack sort, with absolutely professional lay-out ( as became more or less a good tradition by Beyond…prod. ). Astray delivers a pleasant effort, yet they still have a few details to improve..." (M. Black) Rating: 7,5 / 10
|
Dark Symphonies webstore 
|
"Follow up to the band's promising debut MCD "Until I'm Cold Enough." Emotional and Symphonic Black Dark Metal New work from these Finnish black masters. Once again Astray gave a personal symphonic and darkest interpretation of Nordic Black Art. Atmospheric-melodious black-death combining atmospheric black-metal with Swedish death-metal. Influences include Emperor, Dimmu Borgir, Golden Dawn and Old Man's Child. Complicated song structures with plenty of melody and aggression topped off with excellent production!" Dark-Music webzine "Astray is a new name to me, but not really full of shit even though the screamy vocals are dull and sounds uncreative. I close my ears for the vocals and open up for the rest of the music which falls into Black Metal, despite being emotional and overly symphonic at certian spots. Lots of solos, melodies and atmosphere, but they lack the maniac spirit which could make it interesting. It's achived by skilled musicians though, no doubts. These guys are obviously young so in a ears they might know how to perform Black Metal in a rawer way." (Whodan)
|
Must Die webzine 
|
"Atmospheric-melodious black-death. On this mini-album of the Finnish group the attempt is undertaken to cross atmospheric black-metal with Swedish death-metal. It has turned out like not bad, but not especially high quality of record and small duration do not allow while to make of any certain conclusions. Music is interesting, but there is no some variety.... It is more, perhaps, and I do not know what here still to add." (Dimas) Rating: 7 / 10
|
Babylon magazine 
|
"This young Finnish band, at their debut (after a selfproduction) with this mini, play a sort of symphonic black, alas, quite conventional. Aggressive parts, keyboards, compulsory screaming, atmospheric intervals, all sound well done, but quite derived and with little personality. Let be clear: the album is not ugly, but earnestly it doesn't seem to add anything to what Dimmu Borgir and friend have already done. The structures are well defined, the solutions and arrangements effective, there are no errors, the band seems compact, but everything flows away without leaving significant marks. I must admit a certain awkwardness at reviewing "Alone". There are no evident defects, like I already said, it is a young group showing a certain enthusiasm and will of acting, but it is all acerb and lacks personality. Maybe a discrete product for the fans of the genre, but I don't recommend it to anyone else. They are not rejected, but they will have to work hard to emerge in a fashioned but inflated genre, where it is really difficult to say something new. " (Sauron - translated in English by Annatar) Rating: 6 / 10
|
Himnos Rituales de Guerra webzine 
|
"These Finnish are very technical when creating their music, it's a mixture between Black/Death with the well known atmospheric and symphonic parts. Like all the bands focussed on this kind of music, the lack of variety and excessive usage of keyboards saturate the music. The guitars are lost as well as the feeling of a metal band." (Jimmy Ruiz) Rating: 6 / 10
|
Dark Moon 'zine # 7 
|
"I liked their previous MCD a lot but this one doesn't convince me entirely. The material is well-performed but it sounds pretty generic and the vocals are quite bad. I think this stuff goes in the Dimmu/Old Man's Child vein and this without any own touch, it's just too faceless. Many times the song structures are too standard to keep my interest up and the bass drums sound too mechanical for my ears. So, unfortunately this MCD is too ordinary and the band has to get their own style back for the next release. There's too much stuff like this on the market already." (Markus)
|
WaveGothic webzine 
|
"Astray spielen melodischen Black Metal, aber auch mehr als das. Hier wird ausgefeilte Technik der ersten Güte geboten, sowohl hinsichtlich des Schlagzeugs, als auch der Gitarren. Die gelegentlich eingebauten Keyboards geben dem Album eben jene Noten, die mich das Album mögen lassen. Dezend, zu keinem Augenblick aufdringlich, sorgen die Klänge der Tasten für eben jene Atmosphäre, die durch Komplexität nur zerstört würde. Hier liegt die Stärke definitiv in der Einfachheit der Sache. Bewegt sich der Gesang in typischen Black Metal Fahrwassern, und weiß weder posotiv noch negativ zu beeindrucken, bewegen sich Schlagzeug und Gitarren nahe am Rande des noch Erträglichen in diesem Genre. Zu viel Verspieltheit kann schädlich sein, wie ich finde. Doch die Jungs kriegen hier die Kurve, soviel sei gesagt. Vor allem durch die immer wieder eingebauten, gut nachvollziehbaren Soli des Saiteninstrumentes entsteht viel Melodie, die dem Album sehr gut tut. Zu sagen bleibt mir noch, daß "Alone" eine Eigenproduktion ist, die von Beyond Prod. lediglich vertrieben wird. Vor diesem Hintergrund sei auch nochmals auf den ausgezeichneten Sound des Albums hingewiesen. Eine vergleichbare Band fällt mir kaum ein, und somit kann ich im Grunde nur empfehlen einmal ein Ohr zu riskieren. Es dürfte sich für nicht Wenige lohnen." (Vratyas) Rating: 8 / 10
|
|
Amboss Magazine
|
"Aus dem finnischen Untergrund stossen Astray mit ihrer zweiten Mini-CD ans Tageslicht. Ihr erstes Kurzwerk "Until I'm god" verkaufte sich gleich über tausend Mal und erhielt auch gute Kritiken in verschiedenen Zines. Die 6 Finnen spielen eine sehr aggressive Form von Dark Metal, was besonders durch den gekeiften Gesang in Black Metal Manier gekennzeichnet ist. Instrumental hingegen arbeitet man kraftvoll und oftmals ebenso aggressiv wie schnell, versucht aber immer wieder eine düstere Atmosphäre auch mit Hilfe eines Keyboards zu kreiren. Zwar verfallen Astray meist nicht in einen Geschwindigkeitsrausch, aber der Hang zu schnelleren Songs ist schon vorhanen, obwohl sich die guten Momente bezogen auf die Atmophäre eher in etwas langsameren Parts bemerkbar machen. Die Gitarrenlinien sind eher progressiv verspielt als eingängig, so dass man den Songs zwei drei Durchläufe zum Entfalten geben muss. Es gibt auf "Alone" mehrere gute Momente für Düsterfreaks, aber so richtig ist der Funke insgesamt gesehen bei mir noch nicht übergesprungen, die Musik ist aber gut gemacht. Wer Dark Metal in aggressiverer Form mag, sollte Astray aber ruhig ein Chance geben." (eller)
|
Bloodcifery webzine 
|
"Finlandia a pesar de ser un pais pequeño exporta al exterior bandas de mucha calidad ( Rotten Sound, Impaled Nazarene, Children Of bodom etc... ) las cuales se convierten en clasicos de la escena. Pues bien aqui nos llega otra banda con todos los trademarks de calidad del pais Norteño, que fusiona el black metal mas sinfonico al mas puro estilo noruego con el dark metal mas melancolico y oscuro, todo ello de una calidad instrumental increible ( al mas puro estilo del norte de Europa ) si no escucha los solos de guitarra, las melodias armonicas etc... .4 Temas donde se aprecia una diversidad de elementos ciertamente palpable desde la onnipresencia de los teclados creando la atmosferas mas adecuadas a cada tema, asi como pasajes mas oscuros, toques epicos y majestuosos en onda puramente Noruega, guitarras acusticas, voces de todo tipo, asi que como temas muy variados llenos de solos de guitarras alucinantes donde la influencia mas heavy tambien esta incluida. Si siguen en esta linea posiblemente se conveirtan en un clasico como muchos de sus compatriotas.. solo el tiempo lo dira!!!." ESCRITA POR: Iñaki ( Pinhead ) TEMAS RECOMENDADOS: "Utopia Denial" PUNTUACION: 7´8 / 10
|
|
Russian Metal webzine
|
"Whatta surprise. I expected nothing but your regular Donuts Burger clone, however Suomi's ASTRAY managed to deliver sort of breathtaking effort. "Alone" comes with four tunes of so-called "sympho-black metal", composed and performed in a rather unique way, thus representing truly enrapturing musical canvas. I wouldn't say that this MCD appears as somewhat outstanding piece, it's just a perfect example of what all these neophyte CoF and Dimmu followers should sound alike in order to reach anything. When it comes to ASTRAY, they DID reach the status of Finland's premiere sympho-black metal act." (Herr Stalhammar) Rating: 8 / 10
|
Supernal Music / Death to Dead Things webzine 
|
"When the band sent me a copy of their 1999 demo-MCD last year, I knew these youngsters were not going to remain unsigned for very long. No surprise, then, when I was offered their debut mini-album by their new Italian label. Astray play quality melodic black metal with magical, atmospheric keyboards. The guitars are sharp and aggressive, clearly dominant over the keyboard highlights, while the drums have been afforded good microphones and equalisation, allowing them to punch through with clarity and definition. The totality of the lyrics are screamed with real passion (by an angry skinhead), and hence enhance the effect of the more majestic moments. Though the pace is mostly brisk to very fast, there are calm interludes, slower riffing, acoustic passages, and nice leads to enhance the dynamic variety. Pick this up now and this way you will secure a copy of the band's earlier material once they get signed to a bigger label and become successful (assuming, of course, they don't split up between now and then) - items like this glossy digipak often get deleted and are never seen again." (Alex)
|
|
The Grimoire webzine
|
"The vocalist sounds like a fat woman whose voice has gone hoarse from yelling at her son to stop masturbating while watching weightlifting tournaments on television. This a cheaper version of cheesy black metal, made in case a label can't afford to get a real band into the studio. Such failure... such lack of musicianship... such annoyance... such stupidity... such fakeness... such connect-the-dots noningenuity... such faggotry... Astray strive to make this a better world by increasing hatred toward homosexuals. So if you are sufficiently intolerant you don't need to acquire this shining example of sword swallowers." (L Metal Monster)
|
|
Sweet Suffering e-zine
|
"You've probably never heard of Astray before. Do not worry though; you probably won't heard of them in the future anyway. Imagine Dimmu Borgir about five years before 'Inn I Evightens Morke' (their first release) but with no talent and you'll start to figure out what this Astray is all about. From the band logo to the last note, there is absolutely nothing original on 'Alone': the band logo uses the same font Alastis use. And all the notes in all the four songs of the album are clamped in a tragic blend of early Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth. At this time, chances are that even if it's unoriginal it still might be good, but no. In fact, it's one of the most disgusting black metal releases I've ever listened to, if it can be called black metal without incurring in a grievous insult to the genre. Among all the horror I was unable to find anything of interest except the intro of 'Chrystal (sic) Circle of Reflections'. All the rest is completely disposable; the performance of the musicians is poor, and the song structures are terrible, not to mention the harmony and melody aspects. So, do yourself a favour and skip this young Finnish outfit, you'll be glad you did. Period." (Daemon) Rating: 2 / 10
|
Agonia Webzine 
|
"This Finnish band is only 2 years old, but it has released 2 MCDs, "Until I'm Cold Enough" and this one. But do not think that Astray lacks of quality. On the contrary, "Alone" is very worked-out, and this is obvious when looking at the beautiful digipack that comes with the CD. They don't sound like another Finnish band, their music reminds me mostly of the Norwegian scene. Bands like Emperor, Dimmu Borgir and Old Man's Child seem to be the main influence of theirs, while in some parts the use of the keyboards bring to my mind a great Austrian band (that I think it's R.I.P. now), Golden Dawn. The songs are quite complicated, with a lot of melodies and aggressive parts and the sound very good. This band is working very professionally, and I think that they have the abilities to sign on a big label someday. Out of the four songs included in here, my favorite ones are "Utopia Denial" and "Chrystal Circle Reflections" which kick ass, but the other two are good too." (4,5 out of 6)
|
|
Kreivi Korppi / Taiwaz - the hell of Finnish metal - web-site
|
"Astray begins to fulfil the high expectations received among the promising debut MCD "Until I'm Cold Enough". Band's main composer Mr. Markku Pääkkönen has kept his pencil busy and his mind creative; while the debut really wasn't your most original piece of metal, Astray is now beginning to find a sound truly their own. The compositions are very impressive. And as entirities all the puzzles seem to be on the right place. The keyboards bring chaos upon the other raging instruments, and the raw vocals by Mr. Vesa Moilanen make this disorder complete. There might be a little bit of complaining about the heavy use of effects on vocals, but that's more a question of taste. These songs really make you soak to the music. Wonder if there's still enough potential to make a full-lenghter as good as this?"
|
Eric Bron 
|
"The packaging digipack and artwork are very good and the inner contains from the MCD is very well done and complete (lyrics, photos, contact addresses, etc…); the sound and production are very good too, in a real professional way, so that I can say that this MCD is 10/10 noted indeed!!! Musically, it's very good Black-Metal; "Rather I Burn" opens the MCD with an excellent melodical Black-Metal track, with some interesting rather heavy guitars; the keyboards are great too, and so are the bridges and various atmospheres; this track stays therefore powerfull (drums) and makes me think to bands as Dimmu Borgir, but with your own style and personality. "Utopia Denial" sounds perhaps heavier, I mean "heavy-metal style", but still with excellent and various dark atmospheres, in an interesting doom-black style. "Chrystal Circle Reflections" begins with an excellent calm melody, and explodes in pure and loud black-metal (what guitars!); the keyboards are very good again. "In the Rhythm of Chaos" perfectly ends this MCD, with a good and inspired doom-black, rather cold but powerfull. So I told you once by listening to your first MCD "Until I'm Cold Enough" that Astray would be a real hope for the European metal-stage, and I see that I was totally right; "Alone" seems to be better than your first MCD and I hope that you will have some success worldwide in labels and distributors, 'cause your music really deserves it, in your own style near from bands like Cradle Of Filth (some vocals, guitars) or Dimmu Borgir (keyboards, atmospheres)!!! Astray sounds very contemporary and modern, specially for a great sound and production that are miles away from some "ultra-underground" bands, and I'm sure to discover you some days in European metal-charts."
|
