Mephistopheles out of Hobart is a technical death metal band and the release of the latest album, Sounds of the End, shows why they are so good. Some seven years after their last release Ascension Aborted, they have really produced something special – a package of brilliant, technical, complex music.
From the initial seconds of this album with the haunting intro leading into the booming drums and beautifully melodic/psychedelic guitars, there is a sense of immensity and importance to this music.
The stories you are about to be told are otherworldly and grand filled with battles and apocalyptic-type events, with such titles as Soldiers of the End Time, Battle of the Sea and Sky, and The Great Orbs Beyond Our Skies, you are in for 44 minutes of pure escapism.
Going back to the sound, it is this which instantly grabs me and nails it for me. The booming drums are brilliant, absolutely brilliant, at times they sound like worlds colliding and provide a continuing heaviness and add a great mass to everything. Sam Dowson is the person responsible for that incredible sound on drums. As awesome as he is on the drums I can’t just single him out because this album is first-class musicianship all the way through. The complexity and crispness with all the little patterns and melodies intertwining each other all the while being underpinned by the heavy sounds you would expect in death metal. There are some really beautiful intricate progressive moments separated by a pulverizing hammer of Thor type brutality which means the listener must stay drawn to it so as not to miss the next twist or headbanging moment.
Ben Lawless takes care of the guitars, while James Excell looks after bass duties.
These two really have made some outstanding music on this album. Some of the passages in Soldiers of the End Time, and The Siren of Eternity are as good as any you will hear. Matthew Chalk barks and growls and screams the vocals with a monstrous flavor making sure you never forget the death metal foundations it all sits on top of, but in saying that just to show how good they are, some haunting clean vocals coinciding with some very melodic guitar passages that are really spectacular thanks to Ben.
Sounds of the End is so good it is hard to pick standouts, although Battle of the Sea and Sky, and Those Whose Skin Was Gold come to mind. But there is one track that blows me away and that is Soldiers of the End Time. This is one exceptional piece of technical death metal. A true masterpiece.
I really could go on and on about this album by Mephistopheles but it would get silly after a while when all I have to say is, that it really doesn’t get much better than this. This is a must-have album and I loved every minute of it.
Outstanding!
Mephistopheles: Facebook
Release Year: 2013
Label: Willowtip Records
Category: Album
Country: Australia
Reviewed by Chris Rankin
