Sweden’s LINGUA try to put themselves with „The Smell Of A Life That Could Have Been“ in a row with bands like DREDG, THRICE, TOOL or A PERFECT CIRCLE. Time will tell if they manage it but the basics on their debut are given. This first effort of LINGUA is musically very modern, heavy and sometimes surprising, the vocals are mainly clean and wonderfully melodic and only sparsely harsher.

Best example for this is the heavy “Control Yourself” with its melancholic sound in the mid part and a very emotional surrounding. These are exactly the moments where LINGUA keep up with a band like DREDG and they can be seen as European counterpart of the American giants. The same goes for “May Crayons Guide The Sheep”, “Constant State Of Puttra” or “Transparent Barriers” with their shifts in terms of atmosphere. The production is also top notch and it gives the altogether nine songs the perfect basement. LINGUA did the production job on their own and they did it with passion and carefulness.

The rather simple artwork of “The Smell Of A Life That Could Have Been” is then a bit strange. In my opinion, they should have done a more offensive artwork or at least taken a bigger band logo. Obviously, this is not important for the musical content but with such an artwork, it’s difficult to convince listeners, which don’t know this act. After the release of the excellent VOLBEAT records (“The Strength, The Sound, The Songs”) and the rather conflicting debut of THE BLOODLINE (“Where Lost Souls Dwell”), Rebel Monster Records, a sub label of Mascot Records, have yet another promising band to present. If you’re addicted to aforementioned bands, you have to listen to LINGUA. (Online October 1, 2006)