PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
The history of Nephelium traces itself back to the late 1990s in the small Arabian city of Dubai. There, guitarist Alex Zubair and drummer Alan Madhavan had a vision of a band with equal amounts of brutality and complexity, which stayed true to the roots of old-school Death Metal yet forged ahead with experimentation and with a proud nod to their numerous musical influences from Metal and other genres.
Nephelium was the first Death Metal band to come out of the Middle East. After a few years making a name for themselves, the band now set their sights beyond the Middle East and a momentous decision was made to relocate to Canada to further spread what they termed Nephelium’s “insidious gospel”.
Upon settling in Toronto, Canada completing the lineup with local musicians and playing local shows, Nephelium quickly made a name for themselves. Word spread quickly, and the band was immediately offered a show opening for Death Metal heavyweights Skinless. Such an impression was made that a show with Deicide was offered almost immediately afterward.
Their debut “Coils of Entropy” is a full-length concept album that is a neck snapping blend of 90’s style death metal with modern oriental twist. There are two long tracks on here ‘Malediction’ and ‘Coils of Entropy’ which is unusual by death metal standards however both tracks never drop the pace at all.
All 6 tracks offer a solid slab of brutality, gruff growls, tearing screaming shouts, skull shattering drums along with a furious guitar sounds without using an overly complex style or massive tempo shifts throughout the tracks; it’s a driving relentless force to be reckoned with. Each track has a slightly different style and pace whilst they seamlessly lead us from track to track through the album.
This will appeal to wide range of death metal fans, the old school death fans will enjoy the pace and heaviness whilst the fans of the more technical style metal will enjoy the twists and turns they offer up.
Rating – 7.5/10
Track listing:
1. Burial Ground (5:04)
2. Merciless Annihilation (6:17)
3. Hellborne (5:02)
4. Malediction (8:53)
5. Halls of Judgement (5:56)
6. Coils of Entropy (10:05)
Band Links
http://www.myspace.com/nephelium
http://www.facebook.com/nephelium
http://www.twitter.com/nephelium
http://www.youtube.com/nepheliumofficial
http://www.reverbnation.com/nephelium
http://nephelium.bandcamp.com
