Although “Road To Perdition” is this Croatian Metal band’s third album, founding guitarist Bruno Mičetić seems to have spent the past five years rebuilding Keops into his own vision to become the snarling, unyielding beast it now is. This is certainly a heavier release from its predecessor of seven years ago, and the band sound all the better for it. Keops 2022 deal in groove-laden Heavy Metal, with powerful heavy guitars and a thunderous rhythm section. What’s not to like?
There is no denying a timeless Heavy Metal tradition to the band’s sound, stretching right back to touch on anyone from Metal Church and Malice, maybe the heavier side of Pretty Maids or Sinner, right through Tarot, Tad Morose or Thunderstone, and being able to easily sit alongside current bands like Last In Line, Brainstorm, Serious Black or Dreamchild whilst very much vehemently flying its own flag. But there is SO much more in this Keops’ varied sound, an important part of which seems to be their knack of not giving in to the lure of a Power Metal gallop, instead taking the songs into that aforementioned power-groove and exploring the intricacies within, to come up with a sound very much of their own. The drums are the core of this underlying groove, but the guitars and bass take that mood and really drive the crushing heaviness home, doing so with effortless relish.
It takes a strong singer to stand out and compete with such a musical Metal onslaught, but vocal powerhouse Zvonimir Špacapan is more than up to the task. Possessing a timeless, gravel throated Metal voice, he exerts his presence like say Kelly Sundown Carpenter (Civil War/ex-Darkology/ex-Beyond Twilight), Nils Patrik Johansson (Lion’s Share/Astral Doors), Urban Breed or Jorn Lande. This is not an album that seeks to snare you with a catchy chorus, instead in creeps and slithers its way inside gradually, a hook there, a riff here, it’s gradual and it’s intoxicating. There are so many hidden depths that reveal themselves at different times, so that really, if you are just basically a Heavy Metal fan, whatever the era or sub-genre, there is going to be something about this edgy, dynamic, powerful Metal album that will totally draw you in.
(8.5/10 Andy Barker)
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