Ex Deo - Romulus review
| Band: | Ex Deo |
| Album: | Romulus |
| Style: | Symphonic death metal |
| Release date: | June 19, 2009 |
| A review by: | Baz Anderson |
01. Romulus
02. Storm The Gates Of Alesia [feat. Nergal]
03. Cry Havoc
04. In Her Dark Embrace
05. Invictus
06. The Final War (Battle Of Actium) [feat. Karl Sanders]
07. Legio XIII
08. Blood, Courage And The Gods That Walk The Earth
09. Cruor Nostri Abbas [feat. Obsidian C.]
10. Surrender The Sun
11. The Pantheon (Jupiter's Reign)
Epic Melodic Death metal
Nuclear Blast
Canada
Length: 1:01:41
Ex Deo is Maurizio Iacono of Kataklysm fame's new little toy. Lets face it though, he probably got drunk one night and thought "yeah - lets do some really epic album, because that's popular at the moment, and lets make it completely not generic at all." Well guess what, the first album from this project Romulus is the most generic thing since taking the tedious walk to the toilet and back.
With this project, he has in effect managed to temporarily re-name Kataklysm, as all four members of Kataklysm are a part of this project in some way. The guitar riffs have the same sound and style to them as Kataklysm, with the difference that they are all a quarter of the speed. The guitar parts like every other instrument on this album sound like they were written all in the same night this whole Ex Deo idea was conceived.
Romulus is an abysmal attempt to cash in on the whole epic trend, with tiresome battle and Roman history themes. This has to be some kind of joke doesn't it? The entire album sticks to the same lacklustre pace throughout, and is as inspired as what might pop out on one of those tedious journeys. Repeating lyrics "hail! hail! hail! Julius Caesar" is just genius, surely.
Perhaps the most frustrating thing about Romulus is that he managed to get some talented guests to perform on this album and presumably sat around playing Mario Kart with them all day instead of getting them to put any kind of notable input to the album. If the combined input of guests Karl Sanders of Nile, Nergal of Behemoth and Mr Claw from Keep Of Kalessin cannot salvage anything worth listening to from this album, then nothing can.
Ex Deo are going to be a touring band, so perhaps something will work on stage, but as it is Romulus is over an hour of mashed together, uninspired, uninteresting, slow nothingness. Do not let its high status guests, or Kataklysm ties lead you down the garden path.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 5 |
| Songwriting: | 3 |
| Originality: | 3 |
| Production: | 8 |
Rating:
8.4
8.4
|
Rating: 8.4 |
Since this album is rated so low, I think there is need of someone claiming the positive side of Romulus by Ex Deo. As we all know, this is a side project of the Kataklysm members led by vocalist Maurizio Iacono. At first it is important to state that this is not Kataklysm, but a different band. The vocals consist a lot more of the epic screams of Maurizio Iacono and we have a second guitar played by Kataklysm-bassist Stephane Barbe. The maybe biggest difference is the use of keyboards in this new band. Read more ›› |
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Comments: 37
Visited by: 369 users
| Ankh Amen Account deleted |
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| Oerath Windsoul Posts: 10 |
I've to say that I do not agree with the review, instead I find this album to be quite good, I like of history and expecially the lyrics on this album's songs are good, my favourite songs are: Legio XIII, Romulus, The Final War and Storm The Gates of Alesia (Nergal did a fine job there), also as I've recently watched Rome (television series) it boosted me to listen to Ex Deo, and always when I hear 'Legio XIII' I remember a fine scene from Rome itself. 
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| moe5512 Posts: 502  |
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| BaneConall Fart Enthusiast Posts: 251 |
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| wormdrink414 Elite Posts: 1295  |
3.5 ain't low enough. Just looking at the album cover makes me cringe.
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| JD Account deleted |
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| Lord_Regnier Posts: 1469  |
That's some seriously boring stuff.
---- "Why would we fear death, when life is so much more frightening?"
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