JUSTIN’S METAL REVIEWS W/C
EX DEO / ROMULUS
Listening to an album like this just reminds me why I love
the Metal genre so much, this is totally awesome, it has everything a Metal fan
needs, fantastic riffs, excellent guitar playing and interesting intelligent
lyrics.
So who are Ex Deo?
I hear you cry, they are a side project from Canadian Death Metal band Kataklysm and its yet another concept album, (I told you
2009 would be the year of the concept) this time its Roman Empire, which suits
the Death Metal style brilliantly as the stories are full of courage, honour,
bravery, tyranny and treachery, a sort of Roman equivalent of Nike, in fact the
Nile tag is spot on as Karl Sanders puts in a guest appearance on one
track. You can’t fail to be impressed by
tracks like the legendary story of “
I cannot recommend this CD too strongly, it is so damned
good, it should be made illegal for any Metal fan NOT to own it, I hope this is
not just a one off, it would be great to have more Roman mythology and history
put the Death Metal, as AC/DC said “For Those About To Rock, We Salute You”,
For Honour, Glory and the Republic, let Metal commence.
WEBSITE http://www.myspace.com/exdeo & http://www.nuclearblast.de
TOTAL PLAYING TIME = 62 mins + 11
GLORIOUS TRACKS
KILLSWITCH ENGAGE / KILLSWITCH ENGAGE
I have been a fan of KsE since
their first mini album in 2000, they were featured on soundtrack album called
Ginger Snaps and I liked their sound and they guys have only got better since
then.
They bands brand of Melodic Hardcore is a very nice balance
of crushing, aggressive Metal and strong Melodies with plenty of commercial
hooks that give them a wide appeal. My
one grip with Hardcore is that too many bands just pile on the power and have
nothing else to offer, this is not the case with KsE,
they have good writing skills and the lead vocalist, Howard Jones has a very
powerful and distinctive voice that makes him stand out from the rest of the
pack, listen to the song “Starting Over” and you will see what I mean, it could
be any band until Howard uses his Medic voice during the chorus, it makes the
band so distinctive. The same can be
said for “Lost” or the wonderful “Reckoning” that leaves you singing along with
the chorus, in no time flat. Listen out
for: “Light In A Darkened World”, “Take Me Away” and
“This Is Goodbye”.
Killswitch Engage cant fail to impress you with the
strength and maturity of the material on here and the only grip I have is that
is too short, a common problem at the moment, however, if you get the digipak, you do get a DVD and 4 bonus tracks 1 studio and 3
live, essential listening for all true Metal fans.
WEBSITE http://www.killswitchngage.com
TOTAL PLAYING TIME = 38 mins + 11
SUPERB TRACKS