Ehhh... Greek death metal (with a little black metal in there) that wouldn't be so bad were it not for the atrocious recording. Where do I begin? Let's start with the drums, that's always fun. The drums sound completely digitized sans one or two cymbals, and they're so thin and rigid that they are totally separated from the rest of the instruments. I can actually hear the bass quite easily, but that low-end has no effect on the drumming at all. The guitar tone is okay, but it's a little bit too dirty against the obnoxiously loud drums, so the riffs can be hard to follow. The low growling vocals sound good, though. Now, the riffs aren't really that bad. The bassist is really good, and there are a lot of quick changes all over the place with a lot of technicality going on. Sadly you can barely make out any of it, especially when they play fast, because the mix is such a mess, but... whatever. The record is divided into two chapters, "Into the Sanctuary of Death" and "Enshadowed Souls Overflow", which means little as there's no musical difference between the two sets of four songs. Overall I definitely like the songwriting, especially some of the slower, dissonant riffs (check the powerful intro and melodic breaks in "Obvious Inexistence") and the quirky runs where the bass interacts a lot with the guitars (bringing Sadus to mind on some level), but the recording destroys the album. I really like the artwork here. It's just typical metal art that sort of looks like a crisper and more digital take on HR Giger's style or something, but it still looks pretty damn cool, and the color scheme is great. They do waste four pages of the booklet on enormous individual band photos, but other than that it looks fine. The lyrics are cheesy as hell, though. I'll let them speak for themselves: "Groundless book of apostles, Their lies make us detest your god, Our dark hate will distort your faces, Christian cunts awake, prepare for failure, Your religion is a disgusting fraud!" Use natural drum tones, clean up the guitar tone, even out the mix, and you've got yourself a damn fine death metal record. But as it stands, this becomes mediocre by default. A crying fucking shame. I would love to hear this band with a more suitable sound. Man, this band could be awesome...
[Black Lotus]
Running time - 37:01, Tracks: 8
[Notable tracks: Obvious Inexistence, Requiem of Hatred (Jesus Christ Cage Part II)]
Black Lotus Records - http://www.black-lotus-recs.com
