Labels: Czar Of Bullets
Review by: Gareth L
There are probably more metal CDs out there than everyone in the world’s hot dinners combined but I can say that I’ve never heard anything quite like this. What we have hear is some melodic death metal, pretty solid stuff, but with surprise guests – violin, sitar and cello. Okay, obviously this has been done before but not like this – forget about that Metallica orchestra thing, in fact please forget about Metallica altogether and move on with your life. Here the strings/bows totally work, not driving the songs but complimenting them, adding an emotional depth often missing on death metal records. On first listen it did seem incongruous to the rest of the music, maybe even tacked on, but after repeated listens everything comes together.
Take the title track for example. The intro to this is just perfect and the six minutes feel oh so short, heavy without being overbearing and with some killer riffs, or ‘The Old Ones’ with its sitar breakdown (yes, really). Again, not a genre of music I am super familiar with but I am reminded of 90s metal heroes Face Down and Paradise Lost. Some of the faster and more technical moments don’t quite pack the same emotional punch but overall this CD ticks all the right boxes, adds some more and ticks them too. Very good indeed.