Band:	Korpius
Album:	Shades Of Black
Style:	Melodic death metal
Release date:	April 2011

01. Shades Of Black
02. On The Edge
03. Fury
04. Stigmatized
05. Awaking Terror
06. Disillusion
07. At The Point Of Death
08. Six Feet Deep
09. The Finale Charge

God knows whatever-the-fuck it is in the water up there in Canada, but the Quebec metal scene just sprouted yet another extreme metal band. And a pretty good one at that. Anyone keeping score?

Korpius have the (melodic) death metal with a little dash of black metal thing going on. Y'know, the kind of extreme that makes you wanna punch a hole into a rainbow. With a fine scent of instigating blasphemy that will fuck the Holy Spirit right out of you. Korpius is also a band well-aware of its time. So instead of taking the traditional route, the band chose to give the whole thing a nice modern-sounding edge. Definitely an approach with bite.

A good word to accurately describe the album is 'versatile'. Some will give props to this band for regularly trying out something different in their songs. Others will blame them for being clueless about the musical direction they want to take by not sticking to one shtick. Still others, this reviewer included, won't give a tiny rat's ass about those things as long as the music is fierce 'n heavy enough to make my nipples bleed. They might not be the most original band around. But with accessible hooks pretty much all over the place, this blast of an album won't have any problems worming itself into your brain in no time. What more do you want?

Korpius have what it takes to make a big splash. Shades Of Black is only the band's debut full-length, so don't expect them to match the caliber of furious monsters like Zyklon or Behemoth or perhaps even old-Amon Amarth. Think of them more in the vein of a little black creature with a malevolent glint in its bloodshot eyes, set to escape from its cage at Satan's petting zoo.