Six Foot Six - 'The End Of All' Album Review

Tracklist:

1. Welcome To Your Nightmare

2. End Of All

3. In God We Trust

4. In The Eyes Of The World

5. Blood Will Out

6. Last Days Of Our Lives

7. Finale Vittoria

8. Abducted

9. I Am Your King

10. Edge Of The World

11. Oblivion

12. Break The Wheel

2020 was a hard year (and 2021 hasn’t been much better so far), so the idea of reviewing an album entitled “The End Of All” definitely appealed. I was hoping for an album that paired the desolation and despair of the year with some intense Metal, so how did this album do on that front?

Well, let’s look at the good bits first. This album definitely has the slightly desolate and downbeat feel that I feel an album with that title deserves. The musicianship on show throughout it is also superb, as you’d expect from a band that was formed by two well-respected members of the Swedish Power Metal scene. And they can write a song or two as well! There are a couple of tracks that are absolutely ‘smack you between the eyes’ bangers – one being “In God We Trust”, another being “Abducted” and my absolute favourite of the album being “Last Days Of Our Lives”, which gets your head banging exactly the way that any metal song should.

After saying all that, however, I’m sad to say that the album didn’t blow me away. It is a perfectly fine album, with a wide range of songs, some of which I think are amazing and some of which I think are forgettable. But that’s not why it didn’t blow me away. My issue is a complaint I’ve had a few times with Power Metal albums, which is that the production feels so polished that although I am listening to ridiculous riffs, insane solos and a powerful vocalist, the whole feels less than the sum of its parts.

Everything feels like it has been a little compressed – as if the raw energy has been removed from the performance – but not just from one member, across the board. It’s like listening to Metal that’s being allowed to operate at 80% of fierceness rather than the full 100%. And I know that’s a personal criticism, and some people may absolutely love this production style, but I just find myself listening to the songs and wishing I was seeing them live, because nothing ever really lets rip on this album – it doesn’t feel as angry as it sounds like it wants to be.

But on the whole, I’ve listened to far worse albums in my life. 'The End Of All' is an album that will keep your head banging and your ears full, and it contains a couple of absolutely classic tunes – so if that sounds like your kind of thing, I’d recommend giving it a try. For me, though, it feels more like an appetiser than a meal, and I look forward to seeing how Six Foot Six improve over time.