Nephren-Ka are a death metal band hailing from France who are named after a character from H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. Their debut album The Fall of Omnius is a concept album of sorts featuring lyrics centering around the Frank Herbert 'Dune' series. No doubt influenced by acts such as Morbid Angel, Hate Eternal, and Nile, Nephren-Ka deliver top notch, precision death metal that is quite brutal and at times technical, but they don't go overboard on the complexity aspect. Some of the riffing, bass, and drums do get intricate at times, as on "Mastering the Voice", and the Nile sounding "Legend of Selim (Pt. 1: The Seeds of Discord)", though the guitar solos here are a tad disappointing and lack a certain flair that you would expect from a band of this nature. Vocalist Laurent Chambe spews a non stop barrage of growls, grunts, bellows, and screams, and don't expect to understand a word of it unless you have a lyric sheet so you can follow along with the story-line. His deep grunts fit right in on the epic "To the Golden Path", a brain mashing, throat slashing, bone crusher of destructive, brutal death metal which closes the album.
Impressive cover art and a powerful production rounds out this solid debut album. I'm sure we'll be hearing plenty from Nephren-Ka in the years to come.
Track Listing
- Butlerian Djihad
- Mastering the Voice
- Legend of Selim (Pt. 1: The Seeds of Discord)
- The Rise of Omnius
- Feydakins Storm
- The Cymek Revolution
- Legend of Selim (Pt. 2: The Return of the Worm-Rider)
- Praise Shaï-Hulud
- To the Golden Path
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