Widescreen Mode to me was a completely unknown band up to last week when I all of a sudden received their latest promo-package including the "Another day" CD-demo as well as a DVD including the "Another day" video.

 

Widescreen Mode started out in the early nineties in Riihimäki, Finland. In the late eighties some of the members already had a thrash metal band called Aggressive Influence going on. With the arrivel of some new members they changed name into Fairlane. But because of some carreer decisions and bandmembers moving around the band was inactive for some years...'till 2003. Then all of them got together again, changed name into Widescreen Mode and now in 2005 releasing their "Another day" demo and promo-package with which they hope to find a suiting label.

 

After some research on Widescreen Mode I found out the band is becoming really big in Finland at the moment. They already participated in MTV's Unsigned grand finale where their song "Another day" ended on place 8 out of 1700 participants. Furthermore this demo is receiving very promising reviews only with some nominations as being best band of the month etc. etc. All this with just a four-track demo. Quite impressing so far but is this demo indeed as good as anyone says?

 

And to start with the packaging immediately...it looks damn good. So far I've never received a promotional package looking this good. In a double DVD case there are both the four-track demo CD as well as a DVD including the title-track as video. The demo contains four songs which are in between the middle of heavy metal and hard rock and more than once I have to think of Metallica from 1991 up to the present day. And to be honest I don't like the newer Metallica at all. Yet what differs Widescreen Mode from Metallica is the fact that Widescreen Mode's music contains that typical Finnish melodic vibe which many Finnish band have. And it is exactly this what makes Widescreen Mode all the more interesting than Metallica. All four songs are extremely addicting which makes me push the repeat-button over and over again. Also vocal-wise Samu Brusila's vocals show many similarities with James Hetfield's vocals, though not in a disturbing way. His vocals actually sound really good on top of these heavy and well-played songs. The DVD which comes along features the video of the title-track "Another day" and this video is shot in a professional way which makes it all the more enjoyable to watch.

 

After having heard this demo for many, many times over the last week I can see why Widescreen Mode is so popular in Finland at the moment and I definitely see a bright future ahead of them. Interested ones can check the band out at www.widescreenmode.com where both demo as well as video can be downloaded. Definitely worth checking out!