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NAMTARU “Cult Of Ancient Deities”
NAMTARU “Cult Of Ancient Deities”
By Dr. Abner Mality
In Mesopotamian mythology, Namtaru was the Lord of the Underworld and the God of Death. I’m amazed nobody before now has named their band after him. But here we have this new band from Italy and to the surprise of no one, they play death metal with an ancient Middle Eastern touch.
Surprises are very much absent from “Cult of Ancient Deities” and yet this is no drawback because NAMTARU are very good at what they do. The album is a mix of influences from old MORBID ANGEL, MELECHESH, NILE and IMMOLATION and they whip this brew up like the juice of the nine tana leaves that kept Kharis the Mummy alive. I could swear I’ve heard about half of the riffs here before, but they are played with conviction and knit together in such a way that your interest never flags. They seem to prefer a mid-paced or even doomy approach and this gives the music a lot of weight. The ancient Middle Eastern feeling is also captured well and you can almost smell the dust of elder tombs.
The album reaches its absolute peak with “Dagon”, which is just crushingly powerful with its slow and magisterial riffing that occasionally picks up pace to a furious level. If you like NILE’s “Ramesses, The Bringer of War”, then you’re gonna go apeshit over this track. Almost as good is “Endless Self Devourment”, another flowing death metal track. On the whole, the album leaves a pleasing glow even though there is nothing in the least original about it. I’m getting harder to impress when it comes to death metal, but “Cult of Ancient Deities” finds me in a forgiving mood.
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