Roman’s, Greeks, biblical tales, World Wars, big battles; there’s plenty going on here just in the lyrics and narrative themes on this second album from this Toulouse based band. I was looking at the titles and the likes of ‘The Bird, The Tower and The Lord’ gave me the idea that this was going to have a novel approach to things and that was before I even got to the music. As for that, there are no shortage of ideas all moulded together under a loose melodic death, blackened metal approach and even with a Dan Swanö mix and master this is a turbulent and brash listening experience.
The assault starts with ‘Humiliation’ and melody is tight and focused. Vocally things are gruff and hoary giving things a barbarian like hue that suggests this lot would hold their own in a ruck with the likes of Amon Amarth. Without keyboard player Antonin “Childo” Calvet on board it would be bruising and punishing but he lightens things with a piano etched classicism and allows things to calm down a little. ‘Mediterranean Hegemony’ takes in some of the aforementioned themes and Hannibal is the central character as this stomps about like a herd of elephants. There is a build-up of symphonic elements embellishing things as well here and there is a feeling of the spirit of adventure present as the song swaggers away. Marching ever forward ‘Motherland’ has a jaunty harmony and again the keyboard player is a prime focus making it sound as though we have a backing orchestra involved in the melee. I can see why the brief description we are provided with mentions SepticFlesh and lovers of what can loosely be described as Battle Metal will no doubt also enjoy this as ideas keep flowing. ‘Providers Of The Great Apocalypse’ may have a Dimmu Borgir like title but the song keeps on toes as it suddenly drops in a folky motif heralding back to early Amorphis. As for ‘Whores Of War’ there’s plenty of gung-ho bravado and energy from the twin guitarists with a harp like weave from the synth.
Apparently the band have two main singers and a backing vocalist. Differentiating between them is a bit difficult but one is raspier than the other and the blood-curdling throaty screams on ‘Persona’ are particularly effective. They also squeeze in both backing vocals and cello courtesy of Sophie Tran-Ky on last track ‘Wrong Side Of The Century’ keeping things inventive all the way through. ‘The Fallen’ is hefty in all respects and takes a while for it all to gel in your head. I found it a bit overwhelming on the first couple of listens but the tenacity and perseverance of the band won through in the end. Having taken 6 years since self-released debut album Carthago has no doubt paid off (certainly as far as the terrible cover-art of its predecessor is concerned) and hopefully the label signing will help the band get some well-deserved widespread appeal.
(7/10 Pete Woods)
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