Review of "The Beginning Of The End" from Aristocrazia Webzine (Italy): 

La Russia continua a sfornare formazioni che suscitano interesse, è la volta dei Tantal che nel 2009 danno via alla loro discografia con "The Beginning Of The End" vero primo lavoro dopo il demo "Emotional Distress" del 2007.
Il death/thrash proposto dai ragazzi è melodicamente coinvolgente, trova un giusto equilibrio fra parti devotamente melodiche ad altre più pompate e d'impatto, sfruttando la bravura dietro il microfono di una Sofia Raykova a cui unica pecca (se tale si può definire) imputabile è quella di un clean che allenta la tensione (forse sin troppo) rendendo sezioni dei brani molto catchy, cosa di cui non ci sarebbe un gran bisogno data la tipologia di composizione che presentano, già di per sè intrigante nella sua accessibile fruibilità.
I brani di medio lunga durata mettono in evidenza una preparazione tecnica più che discreta e un gusto per le scelte dolciastre e divaganti nel progressivo che li pone al di sopra della media.
Se "Beginning Of The End" come primo impatto non le manda certo a dire, è con le successive "Controlled By Hate" e "Lifeless Existence" che i Tantal si dilettano nell'utilizzare scelte più pressanti e massicce che trovano sfogo nel growling di Sofia.
I riff inanellati dai chitarristi Dmitry Ignat'ev/Alexandr Strelnikov sono ben costruiti, scorrono a dovere ma non privi di richiami (difficile oggi trovare musica che non rimandi ad altro), si esaltano nella solistica tecnicamente valida e dal tocco che sfiora più volte il neo-classico, trovando in "When Clarity Comes" lido strumentale e uno dei momenti più alti del disco.
A seguire con "Suicide" e le due parti di "In The End" si avrà di nuovo contatto con l'incedere multisfaccettato che ha dato vita alle prime canzoni, nelle ultime due soprattutto si noterà la presenza del basso (Mihail Krivulec) più evidente e intraprendente e che meglio s'incastra ai pattern di batteria.
Chiude il lotto "Farewell" con la chitarra che malinconicamente pone fine al platter scandendo le ultime e suadenti note.
I Tantal sono già maturi come preparazione, hanno bisogno di quel quid che li contraddistingua, seppur non inventando nulla "The Beginning Of The End" è un album che ha i suoi perchè e non da un semplice ascolto, ha bisogno d'esser metabolizzato.
Promossi in attesa di un'anima definitivamente propria.

Review of "The Beginning Of The End" from Brutalism (Netherlands):

Mark - 4/5

Russian prog-death death bands are quite rare, even more so with female vocals. Don't let that immediately put you off. Sofia Raykova sings a range of clean to the downright rotten taking much inspiration from Arch Enemy's Angela Gossow. The band themselves obviously listen to this band and fellow progressive deathsters Opeth with a mild hint of Control Denied. This album really surprised me upon first listen. After numerous plays, this is not an album that you can listen too once, you need to replay it over and over again and each time you gain a deeper understanding of Tantal's music whilst it throws a curveball at you. ‘The Beginning of the End' is over an 8-minute epic, but I must say I prefer those gruff vocals, the clean stuff is ok, but sounds a little too weak. Musically there are no complaints whatsoever, riffs galore and a cool attention grabbing arrangement. The Neo-classical intro to ‘Controlled By Hate' gives up the ghost and is slaughtered by the continuation of a heavy theme. Pounding drumming and fretwork that would make some guitar virtuoso's weep at the skill possessed by these Russians (the clean vocals work for me in this tune) power ahead and begin to immerse you in all the glory being played out.
The artwork is pretty chaotic and at times hard to fathom what is actually being depicted from jpegs on the internet, even though drawn by famous artist Gustavo Sazes, you will have to buy the full version to appreciate this more. As my friends once said when we were teenagers, if you can't read the logo then the band must be good! Careful viewing reveals a clever artistic approach with the band logo. In general though, it always amazes me when I hear a band mixing it up with such class and professional musicianship, Tantal have both these qualities in abundance. Whilst bands like Opeth took a while to gain popularity, as is the case with many bands, here you have group that cries out for general consumption.
This is an interesting release and worthy of recommendation to progressive death fans. Russia has a hidden gem, that gem is Tantal.

Original article is here: http://brutalism.com/content/tantal-the-beginning-of-the-end

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Review of "The Beginning Of The End" from FemmeMetal (England):

Mark - 90/100

From Moscow, Russia comes the band Tantal. Their style of music is described as Modern, Progressive, Death Metal. Fans can judge for themselves, if that title fits by checking out their debut release "The Beginning of the End". One thing is for certain... there are healthy doses of melody and musical virtuosity to go along with the Death Metal mayhem that is displayed throughout the 8-songs and 50-minutes worth of music featured throughout this CD.
Starting at the "beginning", so to speak, the band rips into the 8-minute title track to get things rolling. This song really is a strong intro to this band, featuring plenty of cool melodic bits, some Yngwie Malmsteen style lead guitar work (that can be found throughout the whole CD) and the astonishing vocals of front woman Sofia Raykova. She manages to go from Angela Gossow sounding territories with a rough death metal style, before shifting to a clean, melodic style. Her death-y style is especially brutal and really adds to the overall aggression to the song and her melodic style adds a sharp contrast to the songs. There is still plenty here for fans of strong instrumentation, as the next song "Controlled By Hate" can attest to. This is actually one of the heavier ones featured here, but the band really show off their skills here and again, Sofia's vocals are quite strong and diversified on this one. This song is really, really heavy in parts, but it also features some nice changes in tempo throughout the song. The 8-minute "Lifeless Existence" is just a grinding heavy track, which showcases another cool aspect of the band, and that is the lyrics, which were written by guitarist Dmitri Ignatiev. The next track is the instrumental "When Clarity Comes..." which allows the other band members to show off. "Suicide", "In The End Pt. 1 (Agony)", "In The End Pt. 2 (Epitaph)" and closing outro piece "Farewell" are definitely well crafted songs that add to the strength of the CD.
I am a bit hesitant to pigeon-hole Tantal as just a death metal band. Sure, that is the realm where they come from the most, but their technical efficiency is off-the-charts and in Sofia Raykova, this Russian band have a vocalist who can sing in most any style - she could do very well in singing for virtually any style of metal band. "The Beginning of the End" is a strong, energetic, aggressive and musical debut and I will refrain from making the obligatory, "This is just the beginning" pun, Still, it's a pretty good start for Tantal.

Review By Tony Cannella

Original article is here: http://www.femmemetal.net/tantalthebeginningrev.htm

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Cuando recibí este Cd promocional de esta banda rusa, recuerdo que a lo primero que acudí fue a la hoja promocional para tratar de ver por donde iban los tiros, como se nos presentaban y demás y recuerdo que me picó bastante la curiosidad por escucharles tras leer un par de aspectos que llamaron mi atención y es que en esta misma proclamaban que su música era un mezcla de Death metal agresivo con tintes progresivos comandados por una vocalista femenina capaz de emitir guturales al igual que voces transparentes y cristalinas.

Pues bien tras un montón de escuchas se puede decir que la banda cumple a la perfección aquello que proclaman o se autodefinen aunque también he de reconocer que esta banda está claramente enfocada al "mainstream", es como si al escuchar a Tantal pensara en sellos como Century Media o Nuclear Blast y cualquiera de sellos de esa índole trataran de convertirlos en los nuevos Arch Enemy porque poseen bastantes elementos a los citados suecos: riffs pegadizos y hasta "heavies", solos trabajados para en términos globales hablar de una banda muy notable en su sección de cuerdas, una buena producción y presentación y una front-woman para diferenciar del resto de bandas.

Opiniones o sensaciones mías al margen, en este "The Beginning Of The End" estos 5 talentosos músicos rusos ofrecen 8 potentes y notables temas de Death metal melódico aderezado por una exquisita y refinada técnica, con ligeros riffeos de Thrash metal moderno, una ejecución a las guitarras realmente dignas de mención, con un montón de buenos y elaborados solos al más puro estilo Dream Theater o Yngwie J. Malmsteen al igual que pequeños guiños progresivos y una cantante capaz de emitir gruñidos a lo Angela Gossow pero también mojándose con buenos coros melódicos que aunque le den un toque ligeramente comercial, no empañan en absoluto los buenos temas que Tantal ofrecen. La mayoría de los temas son bastante extensos, sin pecar de introducir tropecientos riffs y es que cada composición está cuidadosamente compuesta con riffs dinámicos y heavies junto con otras más contundentes o incluso "progresivas". Los continuos estribillos pegadizos se encontrarán en casi todos los temas, destacando el tema que abre el álbum al más puro estilo "single" "Beginning Of The End", la instrumental "When Clarity Comes" o los cortes "In The End Pt.1 y Pt2". Producción de sobresaliente a cargo de Eugene Vinogradov que parece ser de los productores musicales de metal más importantes de Rusia además de haber trabajado con Crematory y una presentación fantástica a cargo de Gustavo Sazes (Krisiun, Arch Enemy, Nightrage) hacen de "The Beginning Of The End" una muy grata sorpresa en términos generales.

A título personal aunque los temas de esta banda no me parezca excesivamente largos o faltos de "punch", si que tendría que reconocer que a veces los más de 50 minutos de duración total puedan echarle un poco para atrás a algún oyente o bien por falta de costumbre o bien por mero "gusto" con la duración total de los discos que uno escucha, aunque esto más bien sería anecdótico según cada cual.

Una banda emergente que perdónenme la expresión pero se "mean" en la gran mayoría de bandas melódicas y modernas de Death metal del "mainstream". Las comparaciones con Arch Enemy son odiosas por su gran "parecido", cosa que no negaré en ningún momento, pero al menos Tantal pueden ser sin duda una muy buena alternativa a los que estén ya un poco cansados de los descafeinados los suecos Arch Enemy.

Redactor ... Fekalot, The King of the Underworld

Fecha de publicación 21-01-2010

Original article is here: http://www.pitchline-zine.com/reviews.item.php?id=001533

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Review of "The Beginning Of The End" from Rock Metal Bands.com (Italy):

Mark 89/100

So here we have a new band that deserves respect and attention despite its recent activation. They claim to deal with Modern Progressive death metal and that is partially true if we look at the sounds, sometimes modern, often belonging to Classic metal. Moreover, there is some Thrash and lots of Death and Heavy metal but no Prog metal, except a couple of guitar solos in the vein of Dream Theater. Not that big of a deal, but if a label decides to promote a band, they ought to be more precise.

As to the lyrics, I have to step up to the band's defense and say they're some of the best and deepest I have happened to read recently; connected to the marvellous artwork by famous Brazilian drawer Gustavo Sazes (Gus G, Firewind, Nightrage, Cryptopsy, Sonic Syndicate, Tribuzy, God Forbid, Almah, Krisiun and several others), the songs deal with a constant mood of doom already from birth, as witnessed by the newborn's cries at the beginning of the opener. The invisible cage surrounding most of us leaving brief glimpses of hope, happiness or satisfaction worsens with the tightening of the social slavery and emargination's net leading to exponential rage, hatred and frustration.
I bet many of us - me for sure - felt somehow protagonists or at least partecipant in the characters' events, and this is a plus to plunge oneself into the record's spirit. Yes, sometimes a solo brightens the hard situation and that represents the very few gleeful moments of our life we can enjoy when we are not bored or in pain.

The opening of the attack starts with the courageous and self-confident title track, a rather long composition beginning with a superheavy riff. This song of Death and Classic metal makes us realize how great the whole performance of Sofia Raykova will be both in her growling and and in her cleaning singing. Superb are the solos in the style of Dream Theater and Marty Friedman by guest Andrew Smirnov (member of Russia's Master and Everlost, and also Epidemia and Shadow Host).
"Controlled by Hate" contains catchier riffs and licks and loves playing with monophonic effects. Sofia's growls have nothing to envy Angela Gossow's or her male colleagues', and her ability of mixing or alternating them with clean vocals can't but remain unnoticed.
After the marvellous melody in the central part there's place for a guest shredding solo by In-Quest's Douglas Verhoeven, while the lead guitar goes on the path of the early In Flames.
"Lifeless Existence" advances like a caterpillar; once again Death metal with a few Classic metal riffs here and there; the refrain reminds of the latest In Flames, yet for sure there are also more modern passages, although the two guitar players don't do anything to hide their steady Maidenian influences during certain licks. I find this to be the most comprehensive song, able to show the Moscow act's quite a lot of points of view, and yet smooth notwithstanding the several rhythm changes that the drummer tames well.
With the instrumental "When Clarity Comes..." Tantal prove their two axe players are not inferior to the guests, both in the solos and in the acoustic structures.
In "Suicide" some modern keyboards and torment sobs are added, while the fast guitars and the exploding drums lead the song forward with dexterity. Though all the recording is professional, the bass is never in your face, however here especially (and also in other two songs) is more present than elsewhere. There's also a nice video for this song, in which you can clearly see the two guitar players' techniques and understand why ESP has decided to endorse them.
Look out or the sharp riffs in "In the End Pt. 1 (Agony)" shall cut you deep! As if it weren't enough, threatening keyboards (these are modern and in a way 'progressive' indeed) precede riffs similar to Dark Tranquillity's. But there is much more. In this song and only here Sofia's heritage comes out; along with the crushing guitars, her sadness-evoking clean vocals remind of the hard times of the Soviet/Russian people, its tragedies (environmental, political, economical and social); this song should be taught in every serious Russian art and music faculty. Brutal is the drumming and on some occasions very fast, for a quite unusual composition, as the Moscow combo prefers to go mid-paced most of the time.
And now "In the End Pt. 2 (Epitaph)"...Oh, damn, I think I've listened to that so many times this year that it's only thanks to the fact I always find new details or nuances that I never get bored of that. Great riffs and vocals, adrenalin and class at their purest state, whispered vocals, a divine performance by the two guitarists and not only owing to the Malmsteenian solo, and at last clean and incessant drumwork will make it irresistible to you, too.
In the end, "Farewell", an instrumental closing track including vultures crying on the rotting corpse of the person nobody cared for, destined to oblivion. It could be an orphan, a widow without relatives or friends, or a homeless. It's a story that keeps on repeating in once rich countries where social assistance has remaned a utopia on the paper, everyday even at the threshold of 2010.

We have to admit the 5-piece hasn't invented anything, still it offers an interesting and professional blend, made more enticing by the three guests, among whom keyboardist Alexander Dronov is in practice the sixth member on this album. A strength of the band resides in the capacity of choosing good songwriting solutions; since I haven't heard its previous promo I can't say if it's improved or not.
Only time will tell if this masterpiece will have been thrown like pearls to pigs or if the combo will reach the last rung of the ladder.

MARKUS GANZHERRLICH - December 20th, 2009

Original article is here: http://www.rockmetalbands.com/Tantal_review.htm

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Review of "The Beginning Of The End" from Pull The Chain (Belgium):

This is a good piece of technical death metal. In terms of musical prowess, song-writing abilities and arrangements, «The Beginning of the End» is hard to match. It is true music in the very best sense of the word. The stand out factor is obviously the guitar lines, which alternate ultra catchy solo actions with good rhythmic works. Those technical yet catchy guitar lines definitely give Tantal something extra and lifts them above many also competent but unoriginal purveyors of the technical death metal genre. Another bonus is the presence of female singer Sofia Raykova who fluctuates from guttural death to emotional clean lines several times within each track. The musicians are equally stunning, precision riffing with the needed progressive background; solid bass drums foundations...Tantal deliver the right mixture between all their influences with an obvious sense of melody. I absolutely have no hesitation to recommend this (first) full length to any lover of technical death metal. Excellent.

Georges

Original article is here: http://users.skynet.be/am028632/pages/cdreviews/2009/autumn/december/Tantal.htm

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Review of "The Beginning Of The End" from Ravenheart Music (UK):

Mark: 9/10

Reviewed 19th November 2009

Want an album that is heavy, melodic, offers a mix of power and progressive metal, and has death metal vocals and clean vocals, all vocals done by leading lady Sofia Raykova. Then check out Russian band Tantal. This album to be honest has taken the wind out of my sails, literally! The album kicks off with the cries of a baby before the 8 minute plus title track steamrollers it's way from the speakers, with brutally harsh vocals from Sofia and a chorus to die for (that features Sofia's clean vocal style). The album, featuring this mix of vocal styles, continues at a pace that will leave you gasping for breath, with most of the tracks perfectly merging into each other giving one absolutely no time to catch their breath. And with guitar solos in the best tradition of Dream Theatre of Malmsteen and the like, this is a very good album for anybody that enjoys their music aggressively heavy, melodic and loud. The sound has been taken care of by Eugene Vinogradov (Crematory) and I have to say that this album sure is worth checking out. Not one if you are into the softer side of our beloved genre, but this is a safe bet for the metal fans out there. I always know how good an album is, and while listening to this 8 track offering, the 50 minutes just flew by. Go to www.myspace.com/tantalband and check them out. 9/10 (Reviewed by Dave)

Original article is here: http://www.ravenheartmusic.com/news.html

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Review of "The Beginning Of The End" from FobiaZine.net (Czech):

Trochu nedůvěřivě jsem si prohlížel promo, které se ke mně dostalo až ze vzdálených, sněhem a ledem pokrytých ruských plání. EP z roku 2007, nazvané „Emotional distress" jsem bohužel propásl, v případě nové nahrávky je tomu naštěstí jinak. Proč naštěstí? Ihned první skladba, osm a půl minutová „Beginning of the End" představí skvěle šlapající smečku s metalovou divou za mikrofonem, která zvládá jak harsh, tak i growl a čistý zpěv. Docela úctyhodné dispozice, nemyslíte? Jediná osoba však zřídkakdy zachrání celé album, pojďme se tedy společně podívat, jak jsou na tom ostatní složky nahrávky.

První, co vás zarazí je sound. Není úplně typické, aby se na kotoučích ruských kapel vyskytoval jinak typicky švédský „vysoký" zvuk kytar, tolik používaný v melodic death metalu. Tím spíše, když je využíván v progresivním thrash-deathu. A přesně v těchto vodách se Tantal nacházejí, valící svůj kámen vzhůru až k metalové svatyni. Dorazí k ní? Ačkoliv bych jim to moc přál, prozatím ne. Na vině není ani tak zvuk, který rozhodně nepatří mezi světovou špičku, ale neurazí (poněkud plechový), ani občas trochu otravné vokály zpěvačky Sofie Raykovové (totálně subjektivní názor), ale spíše zbytečně natahovaná stopáž alba, která se vyšplhala k padesáti minutám při přítomnosti osmi skladeb. To samo o sobě ještě není nic špatného, jde však o to, že jednotlivé tracky se většinou táhnou jako žvýkačka, po třech, čtyřech minutách máte již toho, či onoho riffu plné zuby a rádi byste se posunuli dále. Vím, že přesně tato minimalistická hra je často obsahem progressive deathu, ale v případě Tantal to kapele vychází střídavě. Některé songy jsou ovšem krajně zajímavými útvary, jako již zmíněný otvírák.

Co se týče muzikantského kumštu, banda má rozhodně slušné základy, na kterých může do budoucna stavět. Je pravda, že občas se snaží uvařit dort pejska i s kočičkou, kdy textur, které na sebe šroubují, je již opravdu přehršel, ale v dobré polovině desky je toho právě akorát. Jde prostě o to, že formace se musí do budoucna rozhodnout, jestli chce hrát melodic death metal, nebo progressive. Obojí najednou jde samozřejmě také, ale nikoliv v jejich případě. Prozatím.

Přitom, například třetí „Lifeless Existence" ukazuje možný směr, kterým by se kapela mohla ubírat. Téměř power metalové slidy, skvělé vyhrávky v klasickém stylu progressivu, dobře padnoucí ženský harsh vokál, který nejednou připomene blonďatého ďáblíka od „Arci nepřítele", bicí, které jsou pouze málo zvukově ošetřené akurátně odkopávají své party, vše na svém místě. Následující instrumentálka „When Clarity Comes" tento potenciál dost dobře potvrzuje. Melodic death metal, zkřížený s progresivem funguje, jak nám to v současné době ukazuje nejedna kapela (namátkou třeba, ač vokálem naprosto ne - death metaloví Evergrey).

Do budoucna by snad bylo lepší, kdyby se zpěvačka Sofia soustředila hlavně na brutálnější hlasové polohy, jelikož na čisté vokály nemá až takové dispozice, jak se to ukazuje například v pětce „Suicide". Hudebně je to ovšem opět paráda, místy skutečná lahůdka pro všechny milovníky zmíněných stylů. Mušky by se ještě našly, ale to snad na každém debutu..

Stojí tedy Tantal za poslech? Pro milovníky progresivní muziky zcela určitě, protentokrát sice ještě skloubení všech vlivů není stoprocentní, ale věřím, že kapela, pokud tedy přežije, bude tuto svou hudební fúzi zlepšovat..

A já nevím jak hodnotit. Kapela prozatím prostě neví co chce a dovede vytvořit na jednom a tom samém albu jak naprosto úchvatné pasáže, tak poměrně nestravitelnou kombinaci všeho možného. Je to místy za 6 a místy za 8. Takže to dáme tak..

P.S.: A pokuste se překousnout dosti očividný ruský akcent ve zpěvaččině angličtině. Kapela se vám za to ráda odvděčí.

Original article is here: http://www.fobiazine.net/article/3281/tantal---the-beginning-of-the-end/

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