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Rating:
8.8 |
The Firstborn - Lions Among Men
5 March 2012
01. Lions Among Men
02. Without As Within
03. Wantless ...
04. Vajra Eyes
05. Eight Flashing Lances
06. Nothing Attained, Nothing Spoken
07. Sounds Liberated As Mantra
There's something incredibly respectable about a band who can cover so much ground like The Firstborn, yet bring it together in such a homogenous way. Lions Among Men is another one of those albums that seems like there's a little something for everyone.
So at the core, we have some progressive melodeath. Take some proggy sweeping atmospheres found in the likes of some older Opeth albums, then beef it up with some middle eastern drenched sounds a la modern Rotting Christ. Maybe throw in some Heavenwood in there as well. I have no idea what this band has to do with Heavenwood, but it seems like they would appeal to similar tastes. Lions Among Men is just a well thought-out album when it comes to placement of these various sounds; everything is mixed astonishingly well, these musicians definitely have a great intuition on what to bring to the forefront and when. Perhaps a more pretentious man than myself would go as far as calling this "a rich tapestry".
The only problem with this is the somewhat lazy feeling it gives off by the end. The pace is just so monotonously middle-ranged. It never drops to any sort of atmospheric plodding, it never hits any top speed material, and rarely uses this mid-tempo to offer any really pounding sort of moments. Monotony in the tempo may seem a bit too critical, but when you hear how this band has a good ear for interesting rhythms, you'll see why it's a shame they didn't utilize that a bit more to create a little more variation over all.
If you like prog, melodeath, or any type of metal that can tastefully bring in some traditional instruments, then Lions Among Men might just be what you're looking for.
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Written on 17.03.2012 by
Doc Godin
Former EIC, now semi-retired.
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Comments
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9
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"If you like prog, melodeath, or any type of metal that can tastefully bring in some traditional instruments, then Lions Among Men might just be what you're looking for."
Sold. |
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Lost interest at modern Rotting Christ.  |
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| I always thought this band had potential. I still haven't listened to this one but it's good to see they convinced Luke. Previous album were good though. |
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| Will definitely be checking it out. |
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| Sounds like this could be interesting. |
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Written by Mr. Doctor on 19.03.2012 at 15:19
He just meant the non-metal sounds of Rotting Christ if I understand correctly.
That's exactly why I stopped reading. I really like when they stick to the melo-black metal they're renowned for. Not so much when they get all ... AELO or whatever.
(PS remember that guy in the shoutbox every morning?) |
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| This is definitely interesting, I seem to hear a bit of Alchemist in it, not sure where its coming from though, I think it might be the vocals. |
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| To be honest it sounds like someone made an entire album out of the 12-min title track off The Epigenesis by Melechesh. But, I love that track, so this is reasonably appealing, even if the lack of variation does make it a bit tedious at times. it also sounds kinda post-y at times, at least to me |
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