Quintessence.sh [NL]
Pim

After a demo Dutch In Age and Sadness return with this promo. Basically they were working on their first full-length but since that was taking a bit of time they decided to release this promo first to show what they are working on musically. My main point of criticism concerning the demo was the mediocre production. Fortunately this has changed for the better but still there is room for improvement. Musically not much has changed; IAAS still is very much influenced by Opeth mixed with a dose of My Dying Bride. Of course it’s not that strange bands will pop up influenced by Opeth. That band has so much success so naturally others will follow. I’m not saying IAAS are copycats but they still need to work a bit more to get their own style and face. However this promo is a good step in the right direction. With 3 proper songs and a kind of interlude called “Helix”, these 4 guys have come up with almost 25 minutes of music that should appeal to fans of the mentioned bands. Since the band is working hard and is playing live regularly I’d say we will hear a lot more from them in the future.

Vampire-Magazine.com [NL]
Felix

I mentioned this before, and I will say it again. It gets harder each time to be objective about this band for various reasons. Though I think I am in a position to criticise the band pretty well for I see them growing right before my very own eyes, rather rapidly actually. This what I got here is the four-track promo that can be seen as some kind of an appetizer/pre-production for the upcoming album which will be released in the next few months - if all goes well. The songs on this promo aren't that really new because they are playing most of these songs for some time already, though they have been captured on tape for the first time and now available on this new promo.

If you only heard the band's first demo ("Tragedy Of The Commons") from the beginning of 2004 you might be surprised by the progression the band made in this one year and a half. First of all the way of writing an actual song has improved, the songs you'll hear on this promo are more coherent than they were on the aforementioned first demo, which definitely improves the enjoyment when listening. The atmosphere of the whole demo is definitely a thing they have been working on, it is now a lot more colourful and tasty. But this led them to sound more Opeth and less My Dying Bride, on the first demo it was more of the middle of both. So, let's say they have been moving the band's sound more to the progressive side of things instead of doing the so called 'romantic doom' style. These Opeth/progressive influences can best be heard on the first tracks of the promo ("White Meadows" and "The Same Me" - both my favourites of their repertoire by the way), it gives me the impression that some of the passages could have easily been written by Opeth as well, so you can consider this as a massive compliment. Another thing that has changed is that guitarist Richard is doing vocals now too, and he delivers quite an impressive performance, I really hope to hear Richard doing more of these clean passages in the future for this is really something special. Another thing that has to be said is that the solos in "The Same Me" are touching the borders of brilliance in combination with the rest of the song. After somewhat of an intermezzo in the shape of "Helix" we get the full on metal track "Overture" that kicks off with a heavy riff and rather basic drums but slowly but surely moves itself into the recognizable In Age And Sadness kind of song. Still I would consider this song to be the most basic and most in the vein of their first demo, a great thing that can be noticed is that Richard is trying to gain himself some vocal-fame as well again, only this time in doing some high pitched screams in the background, backing up Pepijn's main grunts (which are a bit rawer than I am used to by the way). Of course there is some room for criticism, but this is mainly focussed on the production. I am aware of the fact that this is not the final product and there is something that will change for the last versions will be released, though I would say that there is quite some point to gain on this matter.

In the end of the day… I think the guys are really showing their potential and they really lived up my expectations, and I still foresee lots more, so we haven't seen nor heard the last from In Age And Sadness…

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