PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
It’s taken these four Italian signori nigh on nine years of solid gigging in their homeland to get round to unleashing their particular brand of old-school, straight-through-the-middle metal on the rest of the planet.
Taking their name from the twin-peaked mountain in the central Greek Peloponnese, where the sacred altar of Zeus is traditionally located (language and mythology lessons in the one review – you’re always guaranteed an education here on PM), this quartet combine elements of thrash, doom and progressive metal in a competently efficient but as ultimately unfulfilling a package as their national football team proved to be over 120+ minutes in the Euro 2012 quarter-final – but, unfortunately, there is not the saving grace of a penalty shoot-out to move this particular band of Romans through to the next round.
Opening with the mediocre, mid-paced title track, some early promise shows with ‘A Cold Summer Day’, built on another mid-paced rolling riff from the twin guitar combo of Alessandro Sforza (whose unexpectedly bassy vocals really come into their own as the album progresses, and are definitely worth with bearing with against the otherwise unimpressive power metal backdrop of the album’s first half) and Fabio Valentini. The bass driven intro to ‘The Dance’ also promises much, but the song soon becomes no more than a promising statement of possible intent: but then comes the second half, with ‘Fuck You (I Love Myself)’ – an in-your-face anthem built on a heavy rhythm of a midfield firing crosses in from both wings.
The assault continues with the potential penalty kick of ‘Passion Kills’, built on a brutally melodic riff: they ease off the pedal with the lacklustre ‘Sick Love’ but ‘Together’ sees them unifying once again into a lethal attack force, but is not enough to get them the result they seek, especially with the time-wasting closer, ‘Demenocherai’.
6/10
‘Nothin’ But Death’ is available now on Bakerteam Records and can be bought here: http://www.lykaion.bigcartel.com/product/nothin-but-death-cd2012
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