EMBRACE OF THORNS

EMBRACE OF THORNS “Entropy Dynamics”

By Dr. Abner Mality

What a ghoulishly pleasant surprise this turned out to be! This is album number six from this Greek band, but the first I’ve ever heard from them. Apparently plans are afoot to re-release their previous efforts on Nuclear Winter Records. If so, I’ll be on them like ugly on ape, because “Entropy Dynamics” is one fabulous slice of extreme metal art.

What makes these guys great is that they run the gamut of all black and death metal styles and they do well at all of them. From primitive early BATHORY style black thrash to more melodic and epic DISSECTION style BM, they can do it all! Caveman style death metal and more advanced and composed DM also plays a part. For proof, I offer the very first track “Blackest Orthodoxy Perpetuated”, which is just an absolute fuckin’ classic of black death supremacy. What a rifferama! Constantly mutating as the song barrels along, this never stays in one place for long and yet every transition is picture perfect and each riff fits tightly like a piece in a jigsaw puzzle.

That is the best track, I think, but the rest of the album doesn’t flag at all. “The Breath of the Beast”, “Transformation Into a Celestial Ghoul”, “Vulture’s Ritual Dance”...all keep your head banging as you try to keep up with EMBRACE OF THORNS. The middle of the album has a slight decline with a couple of tracks that are merely very good instead of great, but the record ends strongly and even the three briefer atmospheric tracks are well constructed and add to the record as a whole.

I was not expecting this sucker punch from the home of the gods! Any fan of black and death metal should hunt this one down without delay!

NUCLEAR WINTER RECORDS

EMBRACE OF THORNS