Reviews: Aetherian, Mystfall, Temple Of Katharsis (Reviews By Matt Bladen)

 Aetherian - At Storm's Edge (Lifeforce Records) [Matt Bladen]

Does melodic death metal have to come from Scandinavia? Absolutely not. In fact our friends in the Mediterranean have been unleashing some of the best around, Greece especially has Nightrage, Nightfall and Septicflesh (they count) while more recently AmongRuins have impressed. However Aetherian are on another level all together, with the gravitas of the fantastic Immolation, the scope of Be'lakor and the ferocity of Wolfheart, their third album At Storm's End is a maelstrom of incredible melodic death metal worthy of mention with bands I’ve named at the beginning of this review. I’ve heard the Aetherian album before this and thought that there was bags of potential that was never fully realised. This has changed on At Storm’s Edge, the potential has not only been realised but exceeded.

As the atmospheric build of Forgotten Oaths gives way to the triumphal march of Army Of Gaia, we’re brought in to At Storm’s Edge by the scruff of our neck, starting off with a chug it descends into black metal tremolo’s and blast beats after about a minute, packing riff after riff into just over 6 minutes, if you weren’t impressed by that and you should be ΠΥΡ ΑΕΝΑΟΝ ups the death metal will some thrashy shifts, Kostas Mexis’ basslines blasting with Nikos Parotidis’ fantastic drumming, making the title track one of the most impressive as the guitars of Angelos Maniatakos and Sokratis Alexiou switch between ferocious metallic riffage and clean virtuoso leads. Leaning more on the heavier, more aggressive side of the melo-death sphere, there is still lots of room to bring the influences of classic/power metal that is done so well by the Scandi’s, making for an epic sounding record, as they race through killer cuts such as Advent Dreams where they explore some prog/jazz experimentation in the middle, using acoustic guitars and whispers for more impact.

Panos Leakos vocals are savage, roared and growled but always audible, bassist Kostas adding additional voices when needed. Giving songs such as the shredding Astral Breath more vocal unison over the fret slides and death metal chug. The pacing is perfect, similar to Rotting Christ on their albums, Aetherian know just when to slow things down, strip things back or go all out, the final two songs Soulriver and Starlit Shores doing the latter. At Storm’s Edge is melodeath of the highest order, not only that but it’s a fantastic metal album whether you like the genre or not. They’ve snuck into my favourite albums of the year here. 9/10

Mystfall – Celestial Vision (Scarlet Records) [Matt Bladen]

Ah symphonic metal. The genre that just wont die, though many of the founding bands in the genre have altered their sound in different ways, there are hundreds of bands who do things the way they used to be when Nightwish, Epica and Within Temptation first arrived on the scene. You can add Mystfall to that list now as thejr debut album Celestial Vision. They've gone for the melodramatic, cinematics with this debut, trying not to lull you in but bring you into a world where classical/orchestral music is merged with metal instruments, the production as big as it can be, its Dolby Surround and then some. 

The strings and synths of Dida Racotoarison are used in conjunction with the guitars, bass and drums of Panagiotis Leontaritis, Antonis Desousis and Manos Agouridis for the sort of music Nightwish and Epica used to play in the late Nineties. The comparisions to Epica and After Forever come from the use of dual vocals as Kostas Mexis grunts/growls his vocals abrasive against the soprano of Marialena Trikoglou, both deliveirng the philosophical lyrics agains this epic metal backdrop. Tracks such as Endless up the heavy sound while Silence is a ballad with a bit of Kate Bush in it before the bombast comes back on Kings Of Utopia and Moral Compass. 

Celestial Vision is an expansive debut album from this Greek band, a throwback to an earlier time but one treated with deference. 7/10

Temple Of Katharsis – Macabre Ritual (Theogonia Records)

Bit of a no brainer that I was going to review this album. Seeing as I’m the chief Greek band reviewer of this publication and that Temple Of Katharsis come from the same town as my wife, I had to really give it a spin (and hope it wasn’t terrible). Hailing from the beautiful mountain town of Kastoria (seriously look it up), Temple Of Katharsis are a black metal trio who probably will be melting in the extreme heat over there at the moment, their music and ethos more inclined to the dark, snow covered winters the town receives. 

Inspired of course by Rotting Christ and Varathon, they also draw inspiration from Satanic Scandinavian bands such as Darkthrone, Immortal and Mayhem. Furious blast beats, tremolo riffing, screeched/squawked/snarled vocals and a rawness to the production mean that the trio of Hellmaster 666 (bass/vocals), Zeratul (guitars) and Nodens (drums) pay homage to the genre’s best. Doing so well with tracks such as Erasure Of Religion throwing out the Anti-Christian rhetoric the band base their concepts around, while carving through your speakers with buzzsaw riffing. In The Dungeon With The Rats brings a bit more variation as they slow and speed up with some early nods to Rotting Christ (before the death metal took over more). 

Having releasing one demo, one EP and three splits, Macabre Ritual is their debut full length coming nearly 10 years since they were formed. This longevity has given them experience, as I mentioned it sounds raw, but not too much that it’s go that public bathroom quality, you can hear the drums, they aren’t trapped behind wall of distortion, the guitars and bass can be pinpointed as individual instruments and the vocals sit just right in the mix too, it evokes just the right chilling atmosphere. With some intense black metal workouts such as Inside The Medieval Crypt and The Kingdom Of Hades, Macabre Ritual is black metal with tenacity and danger to it. Beware ye who believe in the false God! 8/10