Following hot on the heels of their debut EP – 2013’s ‘Damnati’ – comes the debut full length album from Ordo Inferus. Forming as somewhat of an international underground super group (with Daryl Kahan from Disma/Funebrarum and Martin Halfdan of Necrophpobic/Infernal seemingly no longer part of the band), they now feature an all Swedish line up. Featuring a mouth-watering array of band members who are (or were in most cases) members of Excruciate, Morpheus, Internal Decay… and just about any other Swedish band whose albums are out of print and regularly have eBay millionaires handing over body parts to own original copies of.
So, with the impressive heritage of underground death metal flowing so strongly through its core– this is bound to destroy all in its path, right? Well as is often the case, the sum of parts don’t always add up to a winning combination. Don’t get me wrong, ‘Invictus Et Aeternus’ is a solid enough release, but it certainly didn’t blow me into next week. Firstly, after the obligatory into the album kicks in properly with a tight, fast sound more akin to the Polish style of death metal than the Swedish foulness I was perhaps expecting. Vocalist Tony Freed probably gives a lot of weight to the Polish sound outside that of the polished riffage, as he sounds very much like Vader’s Peter with his commanding throaty bellows. Guitar solos squeal and dive-bomb throughout the densely layered guitars, with few moments of respite coming in the form of acoustic interludes (‘Anteqvam Porta Aperiatur’), and eerie passages like those found at the beginning of ‘Etruscan Divination’.
There’s certainly an abundance of riffs throughout the whole album, unfortunately perhaps too many – some are standout and really grab your attention, whereas some feel a little weak, never really capturing my imagination for long or having the teeth to cling on in my memory. Even the album’s theme has been done before (yes, this is a concept album about the ancient Roman Empire, it’s formation and expansion throughout large swathes of the world). All song titles are in Latin, as is the album title and the band name – but they drew the line with the lyrics, which are all in English. Where’s your conviction guys! Perhaps it seemed like too much work for copying & pasting into Google translator?
All in all, this is a decent enough effort. It’s played with sincerity, but just feels a little familiar, inconsistent and prosaic in its execution. Still, worth a blast for the death metal fanatics who can’t get enough distortion in their lives
(6/10 Lars Christiansen)
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