Talk about a freshly inked deal. Yes, for those not aware, which is probably most of us a Haliphron Atlanticus is one of the largest species of octopus found in the deep and as far as the band are concerned they are a brand new entity, just signed to Listenable. So, I inadvertently started this review off with a bad pun. That’s not to say these Dutch masters don’t have tentacles that spread into the past and the players have plenty of previous experience in a wide array of bands such as God Dethroned, Bleeding Gods and Izegrim. With a debut album themed around the hunted and the hunter the sextet set things up with a moody orchestral instrumental intro ‘Let The World Burn’ and leave you wondering what dark path they are about to lead us down.
Things become more apparent as they burst into ‘The Killing Spree’ and the symphonic elements from David Gutierrez Rojas become a key aspect. As the instrumentalists flail around them, the vocals have you doing a double take checking that the low growls and throaty rasps are actually all handled by the one person. If you heard Izegrim before they split, you will be aware of the evil snarl from Marloes Voskuil who tars the symphonic death musicianship with a deft blackness. From the first catchy number there are all sorts of elements to recognise and bands as diverse as SepticFlesh, Carach Angran, Cradle Of Filth, Fleshgod Apocalypse and even Epica (musically) will possibly be referenced. Lyrically it is “full of evil” and as we move into “Mother Of All Evil’ I sense a real ‘horror metal’ theme about things taking me back to early Cadaveria and Necrodeath, no doubt the affiliated latter due to their similarly entitled album. Marloe cackles like a pissed off witch and there’s stacks of atmosphere seeping through the gaps as she trades vocal parts with herself. It’s all really well constructed and the symphonic elements filmic in scope. Occasional piano notes give it an air of poisoned romance and there’s stacks going on here to grasp your attention.
The bombastic nature of the music could even draw power metal fans to the fold but the vocals may well scare the pants off the uninitiated as the spit scornfully away before songs such as ‘Perfect Existence’ take a dark fairy-tale path with sinister whispers drawing you into its folds. This one has stealth on side too and plenty of space to add a guitar solo before galloping off again. Themes embrace the hunt, from the suicide cult on this one driven to demise by their charismatic leader to the tragic verse of Mary Elizabeth Frye on the title track, making each of these songs a story you want to investigate further meaning from. A sense of doom pervades over ‘Human Inferno’ with parping horn effects, tolling bells and austere choral parts, everything about the song-craft is a real page turner. There’s pulsating keyboards and a bass laden throb with tinkling keys on ‘The Resistance’ and Marloes reminds a fair bit of Sabina Classen here whilst the hard hitting chorus has a touch of latter day Arch Enemy about it. Inventive all the way through with the last couple of tracks incorporating both sitar and Middle Eastern motifs ‘Prey’ admirably conveys a spirit of adventure both musically and narratively. It’s going to be interesting to see how all this interprets on the live front with shows at Copenhell and Eindhoven Metal Meeting booked for later in the year, hopefully something in the way of full tour plans may follow. For the time being the album should capture imaginations nicely.
(8/10 Pete Woods)
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