Your Last Wish - Collision Course (2011) (7/10)

YOUR LAST WISH is a band that was formed in Montreal in 2003 and that started to get itself a name in the underground Metal scene with their first self-entitled studio record in 2007. After this release, many members though quit the band and only lead guitarist David Gagné remained. Four years later, the band had survived and is now back with a brand new line-up. The most obvious change is that the original singer Martin Lalonde has been replaced by Roxana Bouchard, a young female singer from Quebec with Peruvian roots. The young woman who also works for Apocalypse Productions and who seems to be involved in different underground music projects such as SOCIAL FICTION or VIRULYS varies from higher and almost blackened screams to deeper growls. Personally, I think her technique sounds much more natural and diversified as the style of an Angela Gossow of ARCH ENEMY for example even though they will probably often be compared to them as many critics happen to lack of imagination.

Anyway, this little EP we have here is some sort of a promotional appetizer for the new record “Desolation” that saw the light of day a couple of months ago. The three songs we get in here are not outstanding or innovating but technically diversified and also emotional enough to make me want to try out their full length release and try to see them in concert. The band is definitely a little bit harder than other Melodic Death Metal bands without getting too close to the ordinary Brutal Death Metal genre or an atmospheric interpretation of the Black Metal genre. In fact, this band is already on its way to find its very own style instead of trying to sound popular which is a positive aspect of their musicianship.

“Authistic Mind” kicks the record off in a quite good way. It starts with a short bass dominated introduction before some versatile drums kick in and may even surprise you a little bit. After a few seconds of innovation a rather odd guitar riffs starts that is accompanied by a powerful and long scream and some pitiless vocals that keep the energy of this opener on a high level. Finally, even the guitars join the blistering vocals, the pitiless drumming and the humming bass guitar. Some more melodic and even almost progressive guitar tones take the lead and let us forget the monotonous and even disappointingly misplaced opening riff. That’s where one realizes that the whole band has got some great potential to offer.

The title song “Collision Course” is as good as the opener and confronts fast and hectic passages with a few slower and sometimes even heavier parts. The highly emotional vocals stand out once again but this time the guitars also shine. The track includes a very well done down tuned solo that gets more and more melodic and classic metal orientated towards the end. This progressive transition sounds indeed very intriguing and different from the things I usually happen to hear in this genre.

“Creep” is finally a very technical and brutal Melodic Death Metal track including a couple of intriguing breaks and small but smartly done rhythm changes. Especially the variable vocals make this track once again somewhat interesting and save it from an average song. It’s the weakest song out of the three but still enjoyable to listen to.

In the end, we only get three short tracks on this release but they are enough for me to realize that YOUR LAST WISH are musically talented and that they have a quite outstanding vocalist. The song writing is already quite good but could still improve with a few experiments as all musicians have their shining moments on here. Melodic Death Metal fans should immediately grab this little collector’s item if they can get it and should also try to catch the band up live. Let’s hope that they’ll also make it up to the Saguenay region and elsewhere in the province to spread their name and promote their new release.

(Online October 24, 2012)