Sometimes all you want is fun, breezy heavy metal. Nothing stupidly heavy, just metal tunes that come in, make you feel better and then leave. Especially if that music takes inspiration from the classics – Iron Maiden and the like. This is where Kryptos come in with their seventh release. Hailing from Bangalore and kicking around since 1998 they have consistently kept busy, sharing stages with some of the big guns, Maiden, Exodus to name two and it is Iron Maiden for me that is writ large over their music, those epic guitars, bombastic drums and that heads down, always moving forward gallop that you know and love.
Its full of those melodic touches, completed by a vocal delivery from Nolan Lewis (R. Guitar) that owes more to 80’s Thrash than operatic air raid sirens. Starting off with Sirens Of Steel, you could argue that it is derivative of Maiden, but that would be missing the point. This is METAL, just pure metal in song name, in arrangement, and everything in between. Fall To The Spectre’s Gaze has those harmony parts in it which brings a smile to the face. It is unashamedly old school 80’s in attack and it is all the better for it. I’m assuming that naysayers and those reviewers who love to be snarky will pull it to bits but what is the point of that? The lead breaks are completely in step with the riffs behind, take a bow Rohit Chaturvedi.
To be fair, there are some softer riffs on here, Turn Up The Heat has mid-80’s Ozzy all over it but if you think of it as them being the perfect support band, having all of the best riffs that are familiar in execution you would have a cracking night. Electrify has that classic vibe all over it, right up to the lead break which takes you on a journey with it, the way the best leads always do. Then they go and put a mini-interlude in and they were doing so well. Solaris, weighing in at 1 minute 40 is a definite throwback to how Metallica used to start their albums off, its ok and lucky for them Decimator brings the riff goodness.
It takes all the best from here and puts it in one place – propulsive drumming, thumping bass and that guitar attack which continually has them moving forward. From In The Shadow of The Blade to Pathfinder to album closer We are the Night that approach never wavers. Their ability to mine the classics and yes there are some familiar guitar parts here, I won’t say that there aren’t and it is possible that you could play ‘name the song that inspired it’ but they do exactly what they are supposed to do. And that is Rock out.
In terms of the music on here, you couldn’t describe it as being cutting edge when compared to what modern metal is supposed to sound like which is dependent upon what publications you read. This is a love letter to simpler times in music, pure and simple. If you approach it like that you will have nothing but love for it. I’ve said that some of the music is very close to that which has inspired it and there is no avoiding it but putting that to one side, they have a collection of songs which you can have fun with. Sometimes, that is all you want. 7/10
Visions Of Atlantis - Pirates II: Armada (Napalm Records) [Matt Bladen]
Visions Of Atlantis continue their nautical adventures with the follow up to their 2022 album Pirates. Last year they released that record as a symphonic only versions but this brings the metal instruments back as it seems they have found yet more inspiration from the tales of privateers.
A band who have always leaned more towards the nautical and mythological in their music for me they really starter to take off when Clémentine Delauney took over as singer in 2013, with here majestic voice up front they have delivered albums that see them go from strength to strength, varying what is expected of symphonic metal band. Her first album was 2018's The Deep & The Dark, but it was on 2019's Wanderers that they settled into their new approach perfectly brining in Michele Guaitoli of Temperance as the vocal foil for Delauney which has resulted in three albums since.
On Pirates it seemed that they were trying to reclaim the pirate metal genre from a certain Scottish band with suspect members but there's a long line of pirate metal bands who have been sailing these seas for years. How VoA approach it is with stirring cinematic orchestrations, the storytelling coming from the dual vocals while the atmosphere is confirmed by the music. Uplifting and empowering track such as Monsters and Tonight I'm Alive carry a message of hope with them as the characters portrayed here gather for a battle, it is an Armada after all but there's tender moments of reflection and progressive epics too.
Pirates II: Armada, continues the buccaneering adventures coming with a theatrical soundtrack to match. 8/10
Nyktophobia – The Fall Of Eden (Self Released) [Paul Hutchings]
It’s our first encounter with the German Melodic Death Metal
outfit Nyktophobia, and it’s reasonable to report that their fourth album, The
Fall Of Eden is a fine release. With seven years’ experience, and three
previous full-length releases under their belt, there’s an expected level of
confidence and prowess contained within the 38 minutes of music that they
present.
Starting with The Gateway, a gentle piano intro which
includes some light orchestral elements which helps build the atmosphere,
before segueing into the full force of To the Stars. This is the
beginning of eight songs that ebb and flow, with intricate patterns, switches
of tempo and a range of vocals styles that switch from gruff growls to more
extreme screams. It’s got a foot in the early melodic death metal of bands like
At the Gates, In Flames etc, but also possesses a clarity and contemporary
flourish that makes it a little more interesting than just more copycat
artists.
Charon Gate is one of the more explosive tracks here,
a punishing burst of double kick drumming and ripping guitar work bursts forth,
the song fair blasts forth and drives with a pace that is relentless. It’s the
vocals of Tomasz Wisniewski that tower above, his range giving the songs extra
edge, although his lower vocal makes the Pole very reminiscent of Amon Amarth’s
Johann Hegg in parts.
Musically, The Fall Of Eden is incredibly tight. A
decent production always helps, and this benefits from this. Yes, there are
more than a few echoes of many of their peers, but that’s to be expected. It
may not be the most original, but it’s delivered in a bombastic style that I
think is necessary for such a release. The title track tempers the bombast
slightly, although the band retain their pace and power throughout.
Nyktophobia also has the confidence to conclude with an
epic. The seven-minutes of Voyager-1 stand amongst the best to offer on
this release, blending the crushing metal style with more melodic elements.
It’s a fine conclusion to an album that improves on every play. 8/10
Wormed - Omegon (Season Of Mist) [GC]
When I was given the new Wormed album to review, I will admit my eyes rolled slightly as they are described as ‘’brutal death metal’’ and as we all know, this is the lowest form of death metal and generally gets shitty reviews from me but, on further reading they say they offer ‘’odd-time signatures, avalanches of breaks and complex rhythms as well as melodic patterns that will excite every aficionado of extreme technicality, while growls down-tuned strings and double-bass assaults will more than satisfy extreme metal connoisseurs’’ so maybe more tech-death which is much more appealing to me!!
With the nerves slightly eased, I press play on Omegon and I am instantly put out as what comes is Automaton Virtulague and it falls directly into the BDM category, with standard bree, bree vocals, drums that sound like they are recorded over everything else and the guitars, apart from the annoying pitch harmonics all just meld into one weird noise and don’t stand out above the vocals and drums. Pareidolia Robotica does start off a little better and sounds like its actually been mixed correctly but when they try to be extreme all that happens is that the drums overpower and then the vocals drown everything out and it just starts to sound disjointed and messy.
Unfortunately this carries on into Protogod, it all just sounds so all over the place like they are trying to do to much all at once and not concentrate on an actual structure, which is fine if you can pull it off but here it just isn’t doing anything for me and midway through every song I have just got a bit bored if I am honest as there is nothing that hooks me in.
Pleoverse Ominertia is probably the best song on the album as it has a slower pace, which allows for the different instruments to be heard more clearly even when the vocals kick in and there are some nice mid-section breakdowns but even now, I am struggling to fully enjoy what I am hearing, something is just not quite right, Malignant Nexus is an utterly pointless interlude spoken word/blatsbeaty track that is just more confusing than annoying which is saying something the way this album is going.
Virtual Teratogenesis is another staggeringly messy mix of styles with the tech-death attempting to happen but is then taken over by the more straight forward b00tal-ness and when they try to add some texture and groove about halfway it improves drastically but of course this doesn’t last long before its just everyone is trying a different style all at once again and everything kind of just veers towards and end and your glad when it is all over.
Aetheric Transdimensionalization adds another notch to the stupid song title bedpost and unfortunately for me, it’s just another too much going on all at once to really make any sense of anything type song and while I am all for chaos and unpredictability, there has to be something to hone in on and then you can focus on the rest of what is happening, like a decent riff, some good drumming or a vocal line that embeds itself into your mind, here?
Nothing, its just an over complex collection of noises and exactly the same can be said of Gravitational Servo Matrix and honestly, I am over the moon that Omegon is the last song, then I nearly die when I see its 7:31 and as expected it has no business or need being this long as it’s just everything we have already heard but for even longer than is necessary.
I’m sure you can probably tell I didn’t like Omegon very much, throughout it felt messy and complicated with no structure or body, just a badly executed chaotic noise. With more focus and concentration, I am sure that Wormed could create some decent stuff but on this showing I won’t be waiting around to find out if they do. 3/10
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