There have been 5 years since Brymir released their début album ‘Breathe Fire to the Sun’ and even the band felt this was too long. However this time has given the Finnish sextet plenty of opportunity to whet their sound further and allowing them to not have a single off-note on the album.
The drum beat on “Intro” has a very distinct Terminator feel to it, added to by the keyboard and drum sound, but once the choir enter that is quickly forgotten and even more so once Viktor Gullichsen roars for the first time on “For Those Who Died”. The song is very keyboard heavy with Janne Björkroth filling out any gaps in the sound left by Joona Björkroth and Sean Haslam on their guitars. Patrik Fält keeps a steady tempo on the drums with Jarkko Niemi thumping on his bass for the required bottom end.
The throaty growls on “Risen” are accentuated by the symphonic sounds accompanying the choppy guitars but it’s on “The Black Hammer” where the orchestral elements really shine as the song crescendos with the soprano.
The opening bass run for “Nephilim” keeps driving under the other instruments giving them chances to do their own thing before coming back to the cacophony.
In the middle of the album we have “Prelude”, which at first appears to be a strange title to have here, but once the piano and strings work their magic on your ears you don’t worry about the title anymore. Besides, it’s actually the build up to the rather epic title track “Slayer Of Gods” where it sounds like a full orchestra is playing along to the heady rhythm of guitars and drums intertwined with piano interludes.
Grandiose keyboards fill out the sound of very rapidly tremoloed guitars on “Thus I Became Kronos” where a rather haunting lead definitely is the show piece of the song.
“Stormsoul” starts off sounding rather prog-rocky before adding some black metal fanfare to the mix with the layers of vocals and ultra-fast blast beaten drums.
The choral arrangements on “The Rain” fit in perfectly with the way the music flows from torrential to light in a rather mood altering soundscape.
“Pantheon Of Forsaken Gods” reminds me a little of Cradle of Filth in its hurried delivery punctuated with gentle accompaniments, but thankfully without any squeaky vocals.
This is a great album and I found it really easy to listen to and immerse myself in as it flows so well from beginning to end then back in a loop.
(8/10 Marco Gaminara)
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