“Something evil stirs beneath the Akropolis. Runes begin glowing red in the deep tunnels beneath the temple. Animals scatter in panic as drums rise from the depths. Vendors in Anafiotika pray to their respective gods, but find no respite in faith, as the ground begins to shake and crack. The reason for this unholy display? Septicflesh are back with another fat slab of orchestral death!” Night on Septic Mountain.
“When it comes to prog-power, Anubis Gate has been the first name in my Rolodex ever since 2005s A Perfect Forever found its way to my iron ears. Later albums like Andromeda Unchained and The Detached essentially wrote the book on how progressive power metal should sound, and I have an unhealthy fixation on both those slick platters of melodic metal. After hearing rumors the new album would be a departure for the band, I had a nagging feeling that a great love affair might be headed for the rocks. After a 3 year wait, Covered in Black does indeed find the band in a different place musically and mentally.” Storm at the gate.
“2017 finds Epica as they have ever been (and essentially as they were in 2016 because it’s been eleven fucking months): well-oiled and fun, but still prone to excess and struggling to engender their music with a sense of purpose. A thirty-minute time limit should rein in the former, can a lithe bodice and some deft editing take care of the rest?” In space, no one can hear your bombast.
“If there was ever a band that has truly come full-circle with their music, Paradise Lost would be it. From atonal death/doom metal to Gothic metal to the full plunge into Depeche Mode-esque electronica before returning in sequential order, the British doom band proved to capably transform with each release, and yet still sound unmistakably like Paradise Lost.” Head of snakes, feet of lead.
