The band Ancient Settlers may be from Hispanic countries but their style is more akin to Swedish melodeath with their “storming heavy riffs, thick grooves and catchy hooks”. “Oblivion’s Legacy” is their second album release.
After a theatrical verbal introduction, off we go with the rip-roaring death metal song “The Circle of Misanthropy”. It’s fluid and energetic, reminding me in its riffage of Mercenary i.e. metal to the core but not allowing an exciting flow. Ancient Settlers have a quirkiness about them, and “Oblivion’s Legacy” is a mix of death metal, classic metal and circus, particularly in the vocals. The riff goes round and round hypnotically but a strength that Ancient Settlers have is the ability to transform the instrumental mood smoothly, which makes their songs more interesting. At the core are the melodic riffs and death-style vocals including a blood-curdling scream on “Stardust Odyssey” which precedes a mellow and then a deep passage. At the same time I found it easy enough to keep up with the progression in spite of the transformations, and so it is enjoyable. Both “Wounded Heart” and “Subversive” set off at pace in a classic metal way. With the dark element thrown in to accompany the irresistible riff, in my head I was hearing something akin to Omnium Gatherum and in the heightened chorus line of “Wounded Heart” the Ancient Settlers version of Miguel from Persefone. By now we’d hit a groove of melodic metal.
Again “Coven Garden” goes off like a train. Here and there a warbling voice comes in with a short and clean chorus line. I didn’t find that this added anything and on a later song “The Mechanical Threats Paradox” it sounds out of tune to me but there’s no doubting the flow of this band’s music. In spite of the growls, it sounds fun. It’s not all bouncy – midway through “The Mechanical Threats Paradox” the band break off and into a moody and dark passage. “The Last Battle in the Earth” works through a series of typically powerful and upbeat passages but for me the clean vocals took an edge off it a little. I liked the variety of “Cosmic Farewell” whose style is lush and emotive, and without ditching the death metal drive of their music brings in the keyboard for added colour. This presented another side of the band, one which worked well and showed both breadth and depth. By contrast, the final song “Redemption” disappointed me. Within its transforming structure it contains all the ingredients which have gone before but lacks the excitement which has been such a feature of this album.
“Oblivion’s Legacy” is a refreshing melodic metal album with good structures and transitions which work. Accordingly, it’s an album which s full of ideas. I did find however that the middle section dropped off a bit, and while the refreshing flow of melodic death metal remained, the variety of the earlier songs momentarily disappeared. Nor for me did all the variations work. This said, every song has merit and the fluidity and progressions make the album enjoyable to listen to.
(7/10 Andrew Doherty)
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