Unique Combination of Soundscapes Offering Great Entertainment - A Review of The Samans' Saga×Monologue

The Samans is a quartet from Changchun in Jilin Province that plays a mixture of melodic death metal, industrial metal and folk metal. The band has recorded a series of four very good extended plays early in its career but then stopped releasing new music for more than seven years. This promising group has now come back with a bang in form of its first full length effort SagaxMononlogue. To be more precise, this release is actually a combination of two extended plays that serves as perfect introduction to the band's multiple soundscapes.

Saga is a very creative, diversified and energetic release that combines melodic death metal sounds with European folk sounds thanks to the use of Highland Pipe and Uilleann Pipe played by French guest musician Geoffroy Dell'Aria. Opener ''Seonsaeng" is a gripping melodic death metal tune that transmits a chaotic, powerful and relentless vibe that should work splendidly in concert. ''Where the Nightingales Sing'' offers more appeasing, melodic and nostalgic layers with its use of folk instruments. This song finds the right balance between enchanting atmosphere and powerful attitude. Instrumental epic ''The Lamb Sutra'' has a cinematic, enchanting and soothing vibe that offers a welcome break from the worries of the world and invites to dream yourself far away. Saga finds the right balance between The Samans' different genre shifts and is easily the band's greatest extended play thus far.

The second extended play Monologue sounds completely differently and enters alternative rock territory combined with harmonious, longing and melancholic folk sounds. ''Dead Rockstar's Monologue'' might be the most memorable song of the bunch with its refreshingly simple sing-along passages and sounds like a mixture of Ensiferum and My Chemical Romance. This description might sound odd on paper and might not please genre traditionalists but the outcome certainly offers an inspired, surprising and unique listening experience. Closing instrumental tune ''Syndrome X'' ends this mellower second extended play on a soft note with sound samples meandering between noisy chaos and relaxing piano notes that would make for an excellent tune to conclude a concert on tape as the band is greeting the crowd and exiting the stage. This cinematic conclusion offers yet another different soundscape of the band and shows how inspired this group is. At the end of the day however, Monologue is a little bit less fleshed out, memorable and poignant than Saga and realistically classifies as good effort but not as one of the band's greatest hours.

As you can read, The Samans' SagaxMonologue should be interesting for fans of old age who might have almost forgotten about them and potential new fans from all around the world. The band's combination of alternative rock, folk rock and melodic death metal might occasionally remind of bands such as Amon Amarth, Eluveitie and Linkin Park but the final result certainly sounds very unique. This genre combination sounds like no other group and deserves both attention and appreciation. With Saga being the band's greatest extended play thus far and Monologue qualifying for the middle section in the group's discography, the final result is a very good first full length effort that goes to show that belief, longevity and resilience can indeed lead to very positive results. Here's hope that The Samans will finally get some more reactions around the world and that the group's next release won't take another seven to eight years to see the light of day.

Final Rating: 80%