House Of Atreus - From The Madness Of Ixion - review
House Of Atreus - From The Madness Of Ixion - review
Tracklist
01. The Madness Of Ixion02. Zealous Inequity
03. Oath Of The Horatii
04. Cordelia
05. Call To Thee, Concubines
06. Ad Hominem
07. Prometheus Bound
08. Bonded Behind Supremacy
A review by
ScreamingSteelUS September 11, 2018
From The Madness Of Ixion offers a similar experience to the riff-worshipping, power-indebted melodeath that you could get from Incorrigible Bigotry on a musical level - but lyrically and conceptually, all that incorrigible bigotry has been classed up into Greek mythology, Shakespearean tragedy, and everybody's favorite Jacques-Louis David painting that doesn't involve Napoleon. More than likely it's about the actual oath of the Horatii and not the painting, but, hey, at least it isn't extolling the virtues of the slave trade.
House Of Atreus play a style of melodic death metal that is sadly underrepresented in the extreme arena, a mellifluous and malleable style based in older schools of heavy metal riffing that borrows freely from thrash, doom, and even black metal as the attitude of the song demands. House Of Atreus project not overwhelming heaviness but gruffness, more of a thrashy leanness that is willing to be abrasive in the service of musical ideas than a stated need to be destructive. It's almost as if the band is trying to engineer an independent brand of melodeath, shying away from the keyboards, polished production, and simpler song structures that many of the biggest melodic death metal bands have embraced and curtailing or transforming the harmonized guitar leads used here; instead, they stick to mid-range riffing and mid-range growls, with slightly noisy production and a rhythm section as dynamic and well-considered as the other half of the band.
Imagine Be'lakor, except they've taken a note from Artillery and crammed as many riffs as they could into every song and Ross The Boss wrote all the riffs. Deceased and Kvelertak also spring to mind as the coarse blend of death and other extreme genres meets its match in mighty melodies that would make any power metal band proud. This formula makes for snappy four-minute attention-grabbers like "Prometheus Bound" and just as easily sustains seven-to-eight-minute tracks like "Ad Hominem" and "Call To Thee, Concubines"; the possibilities are fairly limitless with the stock of riffs House Of Atreus has built up and the gravelly fury with which they're delivered.
The only thing that bugs me about this album is the name of the second track, "Zealous Inequity." I guess I can't be sure without lyrics in front of me, but I can't stop thinking that it should be "iniquity." If I'm wrong, though, I'm going to feel like an ass.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 8 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 8 |
Written on 11.09.2018 by
Written on 11.09.2018 by
I enjoy music. Comments
Comments:
9
Visited by
138 users
 Posts: 3593 |
Posts: 3593
Arghoslent is obviously better but I'm so happy there's another band that worships their riff-style, the debut was solid.
---- Crackhead Megadeth reigns supreme.
Loading...
|
|
Posts: 285 |
|
|
Posts: 243  |
Posts: 243
I'm not entirely sure what you're trying to say. You can't enjoy Arghoslent without being a racist? Because that's a silly statement.
---- Learn to adapt to the change, or get washed away like tears in the rain.
Loading...
|
| Posts: 6711 |
Posts: 6711 Written by The Benighted on 15.09.2018 at 06:18 Of course it is. I was merely being facetious.
---- "Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader I'm the Agent of Steel.
Loading...
|
|
Posts: 243 |
Posts: 243 Written by ScreamingSteelUS on 15.09.2018 at 06:36 Gotcha. Sarcasm gets lost too often on the interwebs. On an unrelated note, I was convinced for years that these dudes WERE Arghoslent, rebranded to avoid all the controversy their lyrics and themes have caused. I totally get if that band is their major influence but man...it's even around the same level of quality.
---- Learn to adapt to the change, or get washed away like tears in the rain.
Loading...
|
|
Posts: 2  |
Posts: 2
I have been digging the two songs that they have released so far(Oath of Horathii and Zealous Inequity). How do you think this record compare to Galloping Through The Battle Ruins, Incorrigble Bigotry and Hornets of the Pogrom by Arghoslent?
Loading...
|
|
Posts: 5827  |
Posts: 5827
Oh yeah that band that sounded like Arghoslent. I knew I knew the band when I saw the name on the review title but I forgot... Now i'm curious to listen to this
---- "Aah! The cat turned into a cat!" - Reimu Hakurei
Loading...
|
| Posts: 6711 |
Posts: 6711 Written by JohnDalamhati on 22.09.2018 at 04:22 The only Arghoslent album I've heard in its entirety (recently, at least) is Incorrigible Bigotry, but it seemed like the nearest point of comparison. Arghoslent is a bit more technical and perhaps more creative in its songwriting, but House of Atreus I found catchier. From a musical standpoint I wouldn't be surprised if most people preferred Arghoslent, and I might myself, but they're close enough.
---- "Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader I'm the Agent of Steel.
Loading...
|
|
Posts: 2 |
Loading...
|
Hits total: 5448 | This month: 7