The Ultimate Review of Planetary Breathing

MyGrain are an interesting band. Unlike their fellow countrymen in Fear of Domination, their style of melodeath consists of guitars creating the leads and the keyboard hanging subtly in the background. But just like Fear of Domination, I find their work to be of a very, very high standard. At least if their self-titled album reflects everything else about the band, that is. Planetary Breathing falls a little short of the mark in some respects, but it has its moments to shine.

Now, one thing I have to say: MyGrain have a very clear style of play. They know exactly how they're going to set everything out and how it will sound when it comes together, and every now and again that kind of mentality is going to have a negative impact. There are a couple of instances where you're certain that you've heard the band use the same sequence of riffs before, such as parts in Waking Up the Damned and Rats in the Cradle. Not a bad song by any means, but when it's been done before by the same band you have to wonder if it deserves to be given that much credit.

The keyboard - while not the driving force - is a very important aspect to the MyGrain formula. It would all sound so bland if Eve Kojo wasn't floating around in the background filling any gaps or uninteresting sections with some amazing keyboard work. You'll never hear her challenge the guitars like Janne Wirman would, but that's perfectly fine when she does such a stellar job. Eve single-handedly creates the atmosphere in some songs, and without her it's hard to see MyGrain being so successful.

Unfortunately though, there's a bit of a shortcoming in the guitar department. That's probably why I noticed Eve's work more than last time, because a lot of what you hear are monotonous repeats of the same riffs over and over again. They try doing interesting things with it, but there's no hiding the fact that they're just chugging along like a train for a large portion of the album. The solos are always good, but some other parts... not so much. The drumming is also very limited, although that could be in part due to the crafting of the songs. There's really not much for Janne Manninen to do when the songs are the way they are here.

The one really redeeming factor though - even more so than the keyboard - is Tommy's voice. Jesus, that guy can really sing. It's highly likely that he has the best clean voice in the whole of melodic death metal, quite possibly one of the best in the whole of metal. And it doesn't stop there, because his growls are done very well too. It's a combination of him and Eve that drag the band by the scruff of the neck and pull them from a rating that could even be considered to be pretty poor to one that certainly reflects on them in a positive light.

It's hard to pinpoint any song that really stands out, because everything is of a similar quality. Dreamscape sort of stands out, but even that can't touch the quality that they found on their last album with songs like Cataclysm Child and Into the Parallel Universe. It's a bit disappointing actually, because I expected more from MyGrain based on what I'd heard of them. Hopefully their earlier stuff is better than this.
Final Score: 80 / 100