[8.5/10]With Finnish melodic death/gothic rock act Sentenced well and truly laid to rest following the release of their definitive live album/DVD Buried Alive in 2006, vocalist/guitarist Ville Laihiala has finally been able to devote his full focus and energy to his other project Poisonblack. And you can really hear the results on the group’s latest effort A Dead Heavy Day.

After a very brief blues-like introductory piece “Introuder,” Poisonblack (who comprise of Laihiala, guitarist Janne Markus, bassist Antti Remes, keyboardist Marco Sneck and drummer Tarmo Kanerva) waste no time getting straight down to business with “Diane”. It’s immediately clear that the band has decided to push aside the overtly gothic rock sound of their previous efforts, and instead, up the heaviness on the guitars, which has given the band a much more metallic sound overall. Laihiala is certainly in fine form, while the guitar/solo work between Laihiala and Markus has evolved beyond the playing of simple chord’s heard within the bands past efforts.

“Left Behind,” the first single/promotional video clip “Bear The Cross” and “Hatelove” all bear traces of the band’s earlier efforts, but with an added heaviness that rival’s any of the last couple of releases from Sentenced (2000’s Crimson and beyond), while the slower paced title track “A Dead Heavy Day” and the bass-driven hard rocker “Me, Myself And I” is where the band’s gothic rock influences rise to the surface.

Both “Human-Compost” and “Low Life” are well and truly the album’s heaviest and most aggressive tracks, but it’s on the blues influenced “X,” the melancholy “The Days Between” and the beautifully crafted epic closer “Only You Can Tear Me Apart” that Poisonblack really stretch out beyond anything they have ever tried before, with all three standing out as absolute highlights in their own right.

While the band’s first two releases, 2003’s Escapexstacy and 2006’s Lust Stained Despair were undeniably strong efforts, it’s evident that A Dead Heavy Day is the band’s strongest and most satisfying effort to date.

Sentenced may have been truly laid to rest, but as long as Poisonblack continue to make albums as strong as A Dead Heavy Day, fans will still have plenty to celebrate about.

www.poisonblack.com