Embedded Files
EPHIALTES “Melas Oneiros”
EPHIALTES “Melas Oneiros”
By Dr. Abner Mality
The word “ephialtes” is Ancient Greek for “nightmare”. It’s also the name of a notorious traitor who betrayed his fellow Greeks to the enemy Persians during the Battle of Thermopylae. Well, now it’s also the name for a new melodic black/death metal band out of Poland, which has its roots in old Polish bands like CRIONICS and DEVILISH IMPRESSIONS.
“Melas Oneiros” emerges as a pretty competent and enjoyable burst of epic melodic death. It doesn’t take long to hear that these guys are ace musicians and know what they are doing. Is it blindingly original? No, but it’s not blindingly derivative, either. It’s not a knockoff of DARK TRANQULITY or IN FLAMES. This is a harder, faster beast and the black metal touches also add to it. I can surely hear some DISSECTION influence here, although not on the same level as “Storm of the Light’s Bane”. The blackened raspy vocals of Quazarre keep things nice and dark.
Unfortunately, the clean vocals which pop up at odd moments have the opposite effect. Almost every time they are used here, they take all the air out of the song. A good example is the otherwise tight and snappy “To The Victims of Sirens”. Once the cleans come in, the effect is jarring...they almost sound like the kind of saccharine stuff that kills many a metalcore album. The only song where they seem to fit is the epic finisher “Pulvia Et Umbra Sumus”. Speaking of which, that track mixes melodic black/death riffs with an almost pompous SABATON-like vibe thanks to the choirs and atmospheric synths.
None of the album blows me away, but tracks like “The Void” and “The Blood of the Gods” are just enjoyable to listen to. EPHIALTES have come up with a nice addition to the melodeath world.
Report abuse