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Finland's Nation Despair make no pretensions about the kind of music they play and their overall mission. Straight from the lion's mouth: "Nation Despair isn't going to compete in this 'who has the most difficult songs or the fastest solos' bullshit. Our goal has always been to write hard hitting, catchy songs that still are heavy as hell." Hard-hitting, catchy death metal? Sound familiar? If At the Gates popped in to your head, then you're off to a good start.

These Finns combine the chunkier, less-melodically-inclined aspects of simplistic mid-paced death metal with very melodic guitar leads and soloing. The EP isn't bad, and if it were a little more creative, I'd relate it to the work of melodic death titans Eucharist; there are some minute similarities, such as the style of riffing, even though the actual riffs on this EP are very basic in comparison. The vocals, drumming, and production values are precisely what anyone familiar with the style would expect, no use going in to detail there. See: melodic death metal.

With a little work on inventiveness, Nation Despair may have something to offer the metal world. This release could be a step toward something better, or simply an indication of another new band within a saturated scene doing little to differentiate from the status quo.