Metal Underground.com

Pictures of Pain's debut disc, "The Reckoning" tries hard to combine melodic metal with extreme shouts and sounds, with mixed results. There's no denying that the band has considerable chops, but sometimes the combination of sounds feels forced.

For example, there's the opener, "Betrayal," which bounces back and forth between a melodic guitar part and Hans Helge Iversen's screams and growls. The song struggles to gain momentum, despite an amazing guitar solo from Rune Fredriksen and some later Halford-ish falsetto screams from Iversen.

Conversely, there are the times like a section of "Far Beyond" that mixes Frode Gundersen's fast double-bass drumming with a comparatively gentle guitar line from Fredriksen and rhythm guitarist Arne Marton Tangjerd.

Iversen's melodic vocals are definitely impressive, with an almost power-metal purity on tracks like "The Reckoning." He imbues "Deviator" with enough of a Rob Halford feel to evoke Judas Priest, even as the band puts the pedal to the medal, speed-wise.

As noted earlier, Fredriksen's lead guitar work is quite stellar, with a bluesy, elegaic solo providing the perfect ending to "From The Ashes."

In fact, it's the band's innate ability in the melodic sections that make the extreme elements seem like they came out of nowhere. For example, "Guardian Of Tears" makes little or no transition between Iversen's melodic beginning and the screamy shouts that follow. In fact, the one time the extreme elements don't feel out of place is on "Eternal Rage," and that's mostly because they dominate the song.

There's no doubt that Pictures of Pain has plenty of skills, but the clumsy combination of melodic and extreme metal sounds makes "The Reckoning" a sometimes painful listen. Here's hoping the Norwegian band can clean things up a bit on its next release.