I believe The Essence arrived 3 or 4 years late to the date in which the album and this band would have been recognized, appreciated and maybe even respected. It is true that this Swedes don’t play the typical Gothenburg based mellow death, but they don’t do a very good job at trying to insert thrash riffs or even perfecting and cleaning out some generic melodies that made melodic death metal such a “boom” in early 2000.

A couple of songs sound like a side-b version of Carnal Forge, portraying some nice tunes, a couple of angry overtones, but never really seizing the moment that appears design in the song itself to explode and transform them from merely tracks into instant memories. This happens quite a lot in this 36 minute expose of what goes wrong when you lack the perspicacity to understand that there are some points in which you should either release all your anger or chill out at the possibility of an introspective melody.

The Cold Existence is a nice attempt at creating a blend of thrash/mellow death that seems to work so nicely for Carnal Forge or maybe early Hearse (both comparisons are Swedish what a coincidence). Some songs could become if worked enough and perhaps after rethinking the entire vocal approach an instant success, but like a woman with a great body but an ugly face, I end up having mixed feelings, unable to totally threw this album and band at the garbage, but finding myself bored and hungry for something faster, tougher… better recorded and displayed to be totally honest, and the always doubtful questions, “Maybe I just don’t get it?” because there are some segments that really kick ass.

There are some “rarities” that give me faith in this band, like the almost Viking chant inspired “Shadows of the Past”, quite a nice piece and probably the best track on the record, providing a glance at the real capacity of the band of playing something more than prefabricated Gothenburg metal.