Lament started out in 1993, then under the name of Beheaded. They even released their first demo using that name. Later on they found out that another band was already using that name, so they changed it in 1996. This Mexican band found their niche playing death metal mixed with power metal. But the main reason for creating this band was to bring the Word of God to the Mexican metalheads. Lament was the first Christian extreme metal band in Mexico, and they have continued to spread the word to the unsaved ever since.

THROUGH THE REFLECTION (1999) LITTLE ROSE

After getting online way back in the mid-90's, I started to rediscover Christian metal again. Living in Norway, where virtually no magazines would ever tell me about anything in the metal scenes, and even less so in the Christian metal circuit, I was left in a rut during the early to mid- 90's. But getting on the internet changed all that. I discovered tons of bands I'd never even heard of, and even bands from countries I'd never thought of as outlets for heavy metal, and let alone Christian heavy metal. Lament was such a band, and I remember Abel Gomez (vocals, drums) himself plugging the band on various discussion boards back then. This Mexican band were in the midst of releasing their second album, namely 'Through The Reflection'. Released through the Finnish label, Little Rose Productions, this was the bands sophomore release, and the first one with all lyrics in English, save for some Spanish in the last song. The music is power metal-tinged death metal. Lament was at this point a power trio, and then you get the typical upfront bass. I guess being heavily influenced by Mortification also had a role in creating the bands sound as well. I'm not sure if I am imagining thing because Lament is also a South-American band, but I also think they remind me a little of Sepultura at times. It might be due to the abrasive vocals skills of mentioned Abel Gomez. Instrumentally this and is fairly unique for a death metal act. Especially the bass-lines are very out of the ordinary, and almost works as leads more than rhythm or background. And even though the playing is rather simplistic, save for the drums, the song structures and compositions are so dynamic the music never gets stale or boring. You never know what is going to happen next. Songs can go from beautiful and soft to ultra brutal in a flash. They even add some female vocals in "Tears.... Instrument For Reflection". My favorite song must be the opening title track. Starting of as a pretty straight forward heavy metal song, with a cool bass-line, the song totally changes when Abel's shouting death metal voice enters. Then it changes again when they roar through a passage with acoustic guitar doin' the main riffs. Finally we're back where we started, with an awesome melodic power metal tune. Not every song is quite as interesting as the opener, but as a whole I enjoy this album, and applaud the band for creating something their own.

Killer tracks: Through The Reflection, The Wind Of My Heart