Amusingly enough, about a month ago I ripped all my Septic Flesh & SepticFlesh CD’s to MP3 & put the former on a disc which I’ve been listening to in the car since then. So maybe I’m little biased before I even start reviewing this re-release, using the new band name.
“Breaking the Inner Seal” is essentially just that, a minute long lifting of the lid to show the contents within the title track “Εσοπτρον” (Esoptron) are all you’re hoping they shall be. Spiros “Seth” Antoniou’s low guttural roars are as much a trademark as the slow, heavy guitars and their accompanying lead melodies.
Another key feature that they are known for are Seth & Sotiris Vayenas dual vocals. The former being the growls & the latter’s clean harmonies. “Burning Phoenix” melds both the vocals & intricate guitar work seamlessly by showing that harshness & beauty, which both guitars & vocals contain, can very easily coexist here.
“Astral Sea” is a short instrumental that sounds like almost breaking beakers, as it tinkles into the colossal “Rain” with its opening blast on the drums, & Sotiris & Christos Antoniou’s powerful guitars.
You always hear that starting a song with a guitar lead is bad form, but “Ice Castle” shows that is definitely not the case & neither are the neoclassical choral vocals, used perfectly to accentuate Seth’s lengthy roars.
Sounding positively medieval “Celebration” has all the twang you’d expect from 12th century tavern instruments, where a couple of their sensibilities are dragged into “Succubus Priestess”, but for the most part the heaviness is only subtly tempered with these mild bridges which make the song sound even heavier for it.
The slow, distorted guitar breaks into some manic blasting then back, only to be joined by keyboards playing whimsical melodies on “So Clean, So Empty”. These features shall eventually be replaced by full orchestras these days, but were already laying the foundations of what was to come back then.
The Middle Eastern guitar sound opening “The Eyes of Set” works well with the song’s content, as do the twin guitars & overlapping leads during the slightly more subdued ending. The middle of the song has flowing guitar melodies, spoken & death vocals, and a steady ticking over on the drums.
Coming in just shy of 9 minutes “Narcissism” is truly epic and the masterpiece on the album, combining all manner of vocals and traditional instruments. It builds from almost nothing to death metal splendour where Seth’s roar drowns out everything else.
If you’ve already got the 1995 album, nothing I’ve said above is news to you & now on to the only reason to pick up the re-release, other than the new artwork specially designed by Seth. The “Woman of the Rings” on ‘The Eldest Cosmonaut’ is listed as a remastered version there and since this whole album has been remastered for this re-release, I take it this has been re-remastered too, but the changes are subtle and more to enhance the heavy guitar and make the vocals stand out more.
The next two tracks were recorded live in Lille in 1999 and previously unreleased. “Crescent Moon” is from ‘Mystic Places of Dawn’ & pretty much raw power & aggression with few of their twists, while “Brotherhood of the Fallen Knights”, from ‘A Fallen Temple’, contains its fair share of rawness but plenty of harmony with the death & clean vocal medleys which they manage of pull of brilliantly in a live setting.
I remember hearing this for the first time around ’97 & am still blown away by how good it still is now. If you didn’t manage to pick it up then, you certainly have no excuse not to now.
(8/10 – Marco Gaminara)
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