The debut album by Finnish hard rockers
Sinamore is atypically poppy for the fairly hardcore metal label Napalm Records:
A New Day sounds much more like '80s goth rockers like
the Cult or
Gene Loves Jezebel than the average Scandinavian black metal outfit. Singer/songwriter Mikko Heikkila has an oddly sweet and melodic tone that at times recalls
Peter Murphy's baritone croon; even when he yells, as on the dramatic "Fallen," he doesn't venture into the guttural range that's the current metal standard. Similarly, the band favors relatively mellow mid-tempo arrangements and guitar tones that owe more to echoing, reverby post-punk (think of
the Cure, and at times even
Cocteau Twins) than more brutal forms of metal.
A New Day isn't for the average
Cannibal Corpse fan, but those who enjoy
Nightwish and the so-called "darkwave" school of goth metal will find it quite appealing. ~ Stewart Mason