Album Review: Vltimas - Epic
Reviewed by Richard Oliver
International extreme metal supergroup Vltimas return for their sophomore album 'Epic' and continue the momentum set out on their excellent debut album 'Something Wicked Marches In'. Vltimas were formed by guitarist Rune “Blasphemer” Eriksen (Aura Noir, ex-Mayhem, ex-Nader Sadek) who was joined by death metal legend David Vincent (Terrorizer, ex-Morbid Angel) on vocals and drummer extraordinaire Flo Mouner (Cryptopsy). Completing the line-up are Ype TVS (ex-Dodecahedron) on bass and João Duarte (Corpus Christii) on additional guitars.
Compared to the blackened death assault of the debut, 'Epic' is a far more brooding and atmospheric album. “Something Wicked Marches In” had some melodic and atmospheric moments but they have definitely been built upon and expanded this time round with a greater degree of cleaner vocals from David alongside his aggressive snarl. The album opens in atmospheric style with the dissonant intro of ‘Volens Discordant’ flowing into the title track which is a slower, brooding and dark song.
The atmosphere remains for ‘Miserere’ but things do kick up a notch in the aggressive riffing from Blasphemer and João and bludgeoning drumming from Flo. This mix of the atmospheric and the furious can also be heard in songs such as ‘Invictus’ and it is a perfect balancing act of the two sounds. The album does have songs which just simply go off and are relentless in their pace and attack such as ‘Exercitus Irae’ and the aptly titled ‘Scorcher’ which should plant a sick smile on the face of any extreme metal fan. A departure is ‘Mephisto Manifesto’ which is the most catchy song that Vltimas have done and the hook is guaranteed to stay in my head for days.
'Epic' is a great second album for Vltimas which, whilst a tonally different album to the debut, is a worthy follow up expanding on the darker and atmospheric moments of that album to produce a record that mixes brooding darkness with furious violence and aggression. 'Epic' goes down some different roads but the end result is still an album of blackened death metal that will take your face off.
