Rhodium-Sea Of The Dead

“A Path of Wrath,” starts off the album. This song contains some seriously heavy lyrical content, mainly dealing with peadophilia and standing up to those who commit such a grievous sin. The song has some seriously complex melodies fitted on top of a pounding rhythm section. As the song progresses, the listener is treated to some fascinating changes and tempo shifts here and there that really get the listener lulled into something dark and heavy.

“Man of Honour,” continues the theme from the opening song. Whereas the opening number was dark and heavy, this one is slightly more driving. Encouraging action and deliberation. Moving toward fixing the evil of the world.

“Delirio,” is a raging maniac of a song. The riffs are frantic, the lead takes the time to shift and change and produce something quite telling. The vocals soar and produce a fascinating counter pose to the shifting textures around it.

“First Light of Day,” goes through the syncopation and then turns that around into something a bit more organised. A starting allegory to creation, before moving into the darker waters of isolation and how the individual might be caged by their own desires and others feelings. It is quite the song.

“Sea of the Dead,” the title track on the record is a tribute to those who have died in the Aegean Sea trying to escape the horrors of war. A chilling and melancholic song, it gets to the depth of the human soul and pushes things through into the darker chilling settlements.

“The Emperor,” a sequel to an earlier song entitled “The Fall,” it narrates the tale of the last Byzantine Emperor as that most mythical and great of empires Byzantium falls around him. The band has achieved something quite magical here. They combine the subtle textures of the piano with the much larger and more bombastic melodies of the duelling guitars. The vocals really tell the story of the Emperor and how he must have felt as his world fell around him.

“Sisters of Fate,” goes back to straight ahead metal. Hitting you with a sledgehammer of a riff, and ensuring the listener truly gets within the groove of proceedings.

“Tapestry of Time,” is a haunting song that really allows vocalist Mike Livas to show off his capabilities, and boy does he rise up to the occasion.

”Fight Back,” is a straight ahead riff sandwich, pushing through into the minds of the listener through a straight ahead melody and switch that works so effectively.

“Doomsday,” closes things out. Bombastic, and a riff meltdown, it produces some fine work and is a fitting closer for this most epic of albums.

Sea of the Dead is out on 3rd December via Sliptrick Records.