Ancient Gods "Mystic Lands" CD
[Sempiternal]
Four tracks of melodic death metal with snarling midrange vocals and a decent amount of classic thrash involved. Fairly simple drumbeats make up a good chunk of the rhythm section and generally fast tempos drive the songs with lots of tremolo picking that at times leans towards the melodic Swedish style, but largely rests in a heavier and more thrash based realm. "Inside the Devil's Mind" and "Legions From the Lost Empire" are slightly slower and definitely more melodic, but they stand out a lot because the writing is memorable and the tempos are really driving and forceful, especially when melodic lead lines weave together with thicker backing chords. None of the material is particularly original, but the band seems more at home bashing out powerful melodic riffs that retain an air of aggression - actually keeping things interesting to a larger degree in the two longer tracks that hit seven minutes! The recording's not bad. I wouldn't mind hearing more bass and having things be slightly clearer, but the guitars and vocals sound pretty good, the drums aren't distracting, etc. I feel like there's a lot of extra low-end/midrange in there muddying up certain aspects of the output, but not in a way that really affects the core of the sound. The layout has tolerable aspects and aspects that I'm not fond of. For the most part it looks okay, however, it's quite inconsistent as far as colors used - almost every panel looks entirely different, and the center spread is an incredibly boring black and white presentation of one large line of text that's a little hard to read. Not bad. I'm confused by the fact that they chose to present the CD in a manner that almost suggests a more experimental and orchestral direction, but that's not the route they take (thankfully). I'm not blown away, but there are some really strong moments here that get my attention. (6/10)
Running time - 21:13, Tracks: 4
[Notable tracks: Inside the Devil's Mind, Legions From the Lost Empire]
Sempiternal Productions - http://www.sempiternalproductions.com

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