Potent Metal Assimilation
Daniel Corchado is one of metal’s finest gems. The Mexican native can’t literally do no wrong (okay, I haven’t heard his ambient doom project Magnum Itiner Interius but I’m sure it’s decent) and Acerus’ newest album simply proves that he hasn’t lost any of his mightiness.
Before you continue reading that review, I need to ask you some questions. 1) do you like riffs? 2) If yes, do you like heavy riffs? 3) do you prefer those heavy riffs to be excellent? If you answered “yes” to all questions, you can now proceed. The gates are opened. The posers were kicked out from the temple of good metal taste.
Acerus’ first album since 2016 The Clock of Mortality is a barrage of condensed fiery metal with a compressed plethora of influences infused into one potent expansive but tight record. Combining intricate odds to progressive metal, epic metal and even thrash or death metal, the album has this mythological feel somewhat akin in spirit more than sound to what Symphony X did at the peak of their career (Divine Wings of Tragedy, The Odyssey or V: The New Mythology Suite). There’s this definite aura of Greek and Roman historical as far as themes go. I’m a big fan of that stuff (see Primordial’s To the Nameless Dead or Macabre Omen) and it’s nice to see those topics being explored in this hybrid style Acerus plays.
The riffs and leads of Corchado and his younger spire Ed Escamilla (from thrashers Reign) are what drives this album. From the slow mournful ones of “The Sinister Sea” and its odd epic doom overture to the blackened feel of “The Fight with Destiny” or the power/thrash might of “The Immersion”, it’s a varied album in terms of riff origin but not so much in terms of moods. It’s fairly samey without repetitive. The eight songs are getting a bit blurry with each-others but I think this helps create a sense of unity for the album and I always prefer that over individual songs. The clean but vigorous vocals of newcomer of Esteban Julian Pena are pretty legit, he has good pipes and adds to the heavy/power atmosphere of The Tertiary Rite. I do think he gets outshined by the true power of the riffs at times though but he adds a Greek epic metal flair to the album.
Their metal sound is quite unique, it never fully goes into progressive metal territories and explores a bunch of other disparate sonic islands. You can hear that Corchado is a metal connoisseur and a veteran as his influences are fully assimilated and integrated within his compositions. It’s distinctive without being overly over the top or weird. It’s for sure one of the finest albums released in 2020.
Bandcamp
No comments:
Post a Comment