Firstly being advocate of the English language it annoys the hell out of me when I see words like saviour, colour etc spelt without the ‘u’; crikey it really annoys me in fact. Be that as it may I will forgive this new band proposition for me who hail from Shanghai, China. There vision of symphonic and epic black metal maybe a little outdated and even been done before but whether it has been done as well as this is highly questionable.
Opening this, their second album, is the film score like intro sequence of “Derivation” which sounds very close to the likes of the Lord of The Rings. As the intro develops it takes on a loose Rhapsody style with a ton of keyboards creating that orchestral and symphonic atmosphere before “Star Of Fatality” bursts in with a modernised metal hook that brings to mind Indian metal band Demonic Resurrection. The double kick adds tremendous depth to the song as the vocals come in as a harsh snarl like Dimmu Borgir. The addition of a lone female solo vocal adds theatrics like Cradle Of Filth. This is a splendid opener for the album packed with majesty and epic frivolity manifesting visions of their lyrics which apparently cover astronomy, physics and poetry.
“Sanguinary Salvation” has a blast start with a tone like Keep Of Kalessin with monstrous choral and grandiose musicality which in some respects reminds of progressive death metallers The Project Hate. The influx of piano adds another dimension to an already saturated tune, brimming with a myriad of ideas. The very Dimmu Borgir like “Ocean Of Asura” is constructed with layers of guitar filtering over waves of acoustic guitar alongside a lone lead solo that sounds very good. The keyboard styling has touches of Xerath which continues into “Nacha The Demon” being over the top and downright ostentatious in its delivery. The occasional introduction of female vocals on “Pray To The Chthonic” reminds of a band like Epica, which should in no way make you wince, it’s just the way the vocals are arranged and pitched at the listener to add musical theatrics. I adored “Ode To The Expedition” with its bounce driven riffing backed by a deluge of keyboards. The solos have a folky bounce to them too as the intermittent appearance of periodic heaviness adds colour and texture to an album that is more than blessed in this department. As a purely black metal album this has elements of that scene but fits far more with the symphonic grandeur of Dimmu Borgir, Carach Angren, the milder side of Anorexia Nervosa and to a lesser degree Emperor and Abigail Williams, though I’m sure you get the picture now. The album comes with 2 bonus tunes, the first of which is a purely orchestral version of “Ocean Of Asura” which I found enjoyable but prefer the metal version and secondly a weird eight bit version of the closing tune “Across The Boundary” which in its original form has a spacey electronic feel, something that is amplified on the bonus version and had me thinking about old Commodore 64 game soundtracks for some reason. As an album this is an excellent symphonic and imposing black metal opus with a multitude of superb songs which if you’re tight you can listen to for free or download from their bandcamp page by naming your price.
(8.5/10 Martin Harris)
https://www.facebook.com/ScreamingSavior
http://screamingsavior.bandcamp.com
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