Buried Alive (CD - 2007)

As the self-proclaimed inventors of "suicide rock," it's entirely fitting that Finland's Sentenced exercised complete control over their own demise, having the guts to end it all when they felt the time was right. This feat was carried out in calculating fashion by 2005's aptly named The Funeral Album, capping these Finnish metal ambassadors' impressive 16-year career in style, but apparently leaving just one more final act to be played out in the shape of 2006's live CD and DVD, Buried Alive. Recorded at the band's last show ever, in their hometown of Oulu, Buried Alive is comprised of 26 highlights culled from all of Sentenced's eight studio albums, which, for those who don't know, can easily be split into two distinct phases defined by two, very different singers: Taneli Jarva, who fronted the group during its early death metal years; and Ville Laihila, who held the reins throughout its more gothic, hard rock latter days. The fact that both of these singers were on hand to MC Sentenced's interment is undoubtedly Buried Alive's greatest attraction, as special guest Jarva leads the band through ancient nuggets like "The War Ain't Over," "The Way I Wanna Go," and the all-time death metal classic "Nepenthe." The double CD's remaining tracks find Laihila at the helm, and amidst the wealth of consistently compelling (if not always spectacular) material, one finds far more accessible, chorus and melody-driven goth metal singles such as "Noose," "Drown Together," "Cross My Heart and Hope to Die," and "Broken," which clearly inspired Finland's subsequent generation of commercial metal acts (H.I.M., Children of Bodom, etc.) with their immaculate mixture of heaviness and hooks. And alas, inspiration is now all that remains following Sentenced's official and -- one presumes -- ultimate passing, for which this live set provides a more than appropriate requiem. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia minimize