Demo Reviews

"HER CHERISHED MASK"

Chris Milkins; "Mosh Fanzine"
'Her Cherished Mask' **** (A sure sign of good things to come)

"Oho, a demo, and it's good. What's going on here? On first play, a number of bands come to minds, namely Anathema and Opeth, but soon after, these thoughts are quickly vanquished as you settle into the music and listen to the subtle guitar melodies, blending into the epic keyboards and synths, yet still leaving the impression of an undeniably heavy band. This is extremely good for a second demo... and production is of a competitively high standard. Entwined have refined their sound with the recent additition of synth maestro, Mark Royce, combining their old school influences with a definite 90's sound, the result of which being the slab of high quality extreme music that 'HCM' is. The only problem I have with this release is here is a band impossible to pigeon hole. So how about symphonic doom-death with some clean vocal and hints of oriental and eastern influences, combined with epic baroque sounding keyboards. Sound good? It is.

Joao; "Dark Oath Fanzine"
"Her Cherished Mask"

"Entwined's biog classes their music as 'Unbridled English Atmospheric Metal', which can be said to be a sort of gothic metal that results as a sort of bridge between Enchantment, Cradle of Filth, The Blood Divine and Anathema, even though Entwined have a magic aura of their own, only resembling the aforementioned acts in certain details and also in much of the warm passionate feeling. Romantic melodies match the dreamy atmospheres and sumptuous keyboard orchestrations, but everything is delivered with flair and balls and escorted by grunted vocals which often turn into half spoken, half sung clean vocals and bloody interesting bass work which seems to have a life all of its own as it kind of grows out of the music unintentionally and grabs your attention subconsciously. All of this is done quite subtly and without over doing things on these steady mid-paced, easy flowing songs, with opener 'Red Winter Love' being a truly striking piece, which sees them insert a small sample of Gregorian choirs with brilliant results. These lads certainly have a lot of talent and good taste to create some strong songs. Extremely advisable work!

Stefania Renzetti; "Savage Garden Fanzine"
"Her Cherished Mask"

"Ah! It's always a pleasure to get such well recorded demos...When you have to go through a certain amount of material a pro sound is a real delight! In this case the music is also very good, with a clear Anathema and 'Lost influence, but the keyboard works make the difference, giving us a more 'luminous' sound....Lovers of mournful chants, haunting keys and doomy atmospheres get this demo and keep an eye on this band.

Gregory Whalen; "Terrorizer Magazine"
"Her Cherished Mask" ****

"Entwined are a band that will not be able to avoid being signed for much longer if this, their second demo, is anything to go by. Musically, they are a typical Academy outfit - sounding like a combination of all the best elements of Anathema, The Blood Divine and Cradle at their most gothic. Melodic, atmospheric and purrty damn heavy, 'Her Cherished Mask' is one of the most pleasing recordings these ears have encountered from Britain in quite some time."

Robert; "Drunk and Disorderly Fanzine"
"Her Cherished Mask"

"Entwined have virtually everyone wetting themselves over this demo, and it's not hard to see why, very relaxing and easy to get into. 'Unbridled English Atmospheric Metal'is obviously a tag made up for them, and them alone, because surprisingly enough they sound original. I'm not sure how many bands use fretless bass, or what the benefits are, but it sure looks cool on the inlay. Atmospheric metal is a good way to describe this, what with the keyboards and all. A much better demo than 'XIII', and that was good enough already. I thoroughly recommend 'HCM' to everyone, it has to be the best demo I've heard recently. Worth double the £2.50 it costs!