Behind The Scenery ‎"... Of Honesty Forbidden" CD

Behind the Scenery is completely unknown band from Germany that plays melodic death metal in the style of early Dark Tranquillity. ...of Honesty Forbidden is their second album and the only one I'm fully familiar with, so I can't compare it to the rest of their work.
The album consists of Prologue and Epilogue, both instrumentals based on the piano, and in between there are 8 songs in the true melodic death metal manner. The piano prologue that opens the album is quiet and calm. But already the next song Kneel to Pray shows what awaits us in the continuation of the album. It is opened by a very technical riff followed by a nice, almost progressive palm muted riff. The whole song, like the rest of the album, is varied and distinctly two-guitar oriented, these guys really know how to use two guitars in songwritting. All songs are very balanced and at a high level in terms of songwritting. Each song has at least one or even more excellent riffs by which you can easily remember it. Each song also has a very recognizable chorus and they are all great. There are also a lot of acoustic parts in most of the songs, which sometimes seems a bit unnecessary. Bass is well heard and plays important role in most of the songs. The vocals are more reminiscent of black metal than death metal and are performed correctly and understandable.
Album ends with Epilogue, another instrumental, which begins with nice clasic acoustic guitar, which developes into distorted harmonic riff and then into a long beautiful piano composition and ends with the same theme as the Prologue began. At this point, I can’t help but point out the exceptional level at which the piano is played. Because of this Prologue and Epilogue, intentionally or unintentionally, somehow define the entire album. But again - this doesn't mean that any of the other songs is a filler, but quite the opposite. What makes this album stand out is excellent songwritting. As already mentioned, all the songs are at a very high level, they are full of quality riffs and memorable choruses. Every song on album is unique and highly memorable.
The production is unfortunately a bad side of the album. Individual instruments are sometimes not clearly audible, nor are they balanced in terms of volume. The drums are often too loud, especially loud cymbals can be annoying. The next annoying thing is the difference in volume within the same song. The acoustic and piano parts are always too quiet compared to the other parts of the song.
Like said above in terms of songwritting there is no bad song or filler, making it difficult to choose standout songs. Personaly I would choose Kneel to Pray (an energetic introduction to the metal part of the album), Innermost Emotions (with its progressive touch) and Pure Evil (for me the best chorus of the album). Personally, I also like the instrumental Prologue and Epilogue. Even though non-metal, in both cases exceptional piano compositions.
In the end I also have to praise a beautiful artwork of an album.
If you like melodic death metal in older and rough manner like early Dark Tranquillity, check out these guys and you shouldn't be sorry.

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