Yeah, I know I just covered Behemoth, but I wanted more death metal in my life, so here we are with this Polish band. The vocals are phrased and delivered that has marginally more menace than Nergal's similarly purposeful delivery. They have a big production value sound. There is a faint hint of black metal hanging under the riffs. There is a precise and premeditated hammering to the second song where "The Vanguard' sweeps into and finds a more technical approach in the arrangement rather than throwing a bunch of notes at you, they switch up how you are going to be hit with them. They obviously know what they are doing.
It's on 'Ghost of Lost Delight' that everything begins to sound the same to me, so I have to take a break from the album. Maybe I am just tired and need to come back to it later. I come back to it, and I'm torn if these guys are jumping on the Behemoth bandwagon, or if this is just how metal from Poland sounds? To their credit in either scenario, "Perun Rising' works and is the best song so far, so a break from these guys is what I needed. The state of mind we are in when we consume music obviously affects our perception of it.
Looking back, I should have put a few more metal albums in between listening to this and the new Behemoth, but here we are. For both bands, pouring on the speed is not the best course of action. The last three songs all began to bleed together for me, so I had to give a re-listen with a fresh set of ears to break things apart. "Alpha Inferni" starts off more deliberately before racing away with the double bass. The main riff is pretty cool and anchors the song a bit. Some punchy accents ebb back and forth on "Prophet of Arkhem" that break the overall mood a little, and after a few listens, it grows on me. The syncopated sections on this one are pretty effective.
The rapid fire blast of "Ageless Harp of Deviltry" loses the album, coming out of this blistering attack, it finds the band having to find its footing to transition out of this in a manner that flows. Overall, it sounds great, and they maintain this huge majestic sound for the duration. I will give this one an 8, as they know what they are doing and can bring you into their work, even if some of the landscape might seem familiar. Out on Metal Blade May 2nd.
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