Band:	Coram Lethe
Album:	Heterodox
Style:	Melodic death metal
Release date:	June 04, 2012
A review by:	Darkside Momo

01. Hipno-Magik
02. The Stench Of Extinction
03. Where The Worms Crawl
04. Bare
05. The Anticompromise
06. Light In Disguise
07. Waxed Seal
08. Monolith Radiant

Three years - and several vocalist changes - after their previous effort, Coram Lethe strikes back with a new album.

Wait a minute? 'Several vocalist changes'? Yep, now,it's one Gabriele Diana who's credited on this album (with almost all members doing some backing vox; some are good, some far less so), and not [url= http://www.metalstorm.net/events/news_comments.php?news_id=10392]Claudio Passeri[/url]? Don't ask why, I don't know; it seems that Coram Lethe already had more singers than Spinal Tap had drummers? Anyway, he's not bad; certainly not exceptional, as he lacks depth sometimes ("The Stench Of Extinction"), but otherwise more than correct.

Now, to the matter at hand. Well, it seems that I won't agree with everyone here, as I must say I found this Heterodox to be more interesting than its predecessor ?A Splendid Chaos. Obviously, it lacks Erica Puddu's vocals; it's also mellower, and much more proggy than before (think more about Sadist than Death, for example) - but that's not always a bad point if you ask me. The songs - as hinted by the 'more proggy' thing - are quite long and convoluted, but never losing themselves in a sterile display of technical proficiency; indeed, there's some solid songwriting on here? The riffs are good, really good, and create a solid background on which the band added a few nice quirks, like the didgeridoo on "Hypnomagik", or the infrequent but effective 'clean' vocals ("Bare") and keyboard parts. All that is played with conviction and talent, so the 50 minutes of this album are far from boring.

I honestly expected something far worse than that? Still, this Heterodox, while not completely original, comes with its own flavour, and is definitely an enjoyable, both catchy and technical, release!