Many bands have tried to combine thrash, progressive metal, death metal, and industrial, but perhaps none have pulled it off as successfully as Italy's Empyrios. Their latest release on Scarlet Records is titled The Glorious Sickness, and it's a must hear for fans of Scar Symmetry, Mercenary, Biomechanical, Symphony X, Strapping Young Lad, Nevermore, and Fear Factory. Yes, I know I mentioned some very different acts there, but you'll hear influences from all these bands on The Glorious Sickness, a very melodic prog-metal album that also has plenty to offer the extreme crowd.
Much like Scar Symmetry and Mercenary, Empyrios effectively combine soaring clean vocals with kick ass growls. "Psg" is a perfect example of this, the clean vocals of Silvio Mancini dueling with bassist Simone Bertozzi's death vocals, all the while futuristic synths float around the meaty riffs and shred solos courtesy of Simone Mularoni. This cat can flat out rip, and his partner on the drums, Dario Ciccioni is no slouch either. Industrial tinged prog/death/power metal stunners like "Pandaemonium", "Hesitation", and "Empire" offer up plenty of new sounds for the modern listener, and if you want good old fashioned crunchy metal tunes, you can't go wrong with kick ass tracks such as "Decadence Parade", "Entering The Boulevard", and the bombastic title track, each one filled with huge riffs, screaming pinch harmonics, and powerful vocals, both melodic and extreme. As you make your way to the back end of the CD, the tunes get even more progressive and melodic, Empyrios really giving the listener a boatload of variety here, and something you'll want to come back to time and time again. Final track "A New Dawn" is a wonderful symphonic metal piece, even featuring some killer guitar/keyboard battles that will bring a smile to any Symphony X or Dream Theater fan. Production wise, this CD just sounds huge, the vocals and guitars literally leap out at you...did I say the guitars sound HUGE?
It's heavy, it's proggy, it's futuristic, and it's extreme. Toss in some wild cover art from Davide Nadalin, and you've got one hell of a progressive metal package here that's turned out to be one of 2008's late surprises. Check it out!
Track Listing
1. The Eve Arose
2. Psg
3. Pandaemonium
4. Hesitation
5. Entering The Boulevard
6. Decadence Parade
7. Empire
8. The Glorious Sickness
9. The Chaosbreeder
10. Destination: Null
11. Timelapse
12. A New Dawn
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