Day: January 5, 2016

Good debut for these Portuguese of which we have very little news except, precisely, their nationality. Hieros Gamos is a taste, not being particularly long because of the reduced length compared to the standards of the genre, of a death doom of a rather traditional mold but certainly well executed and full of good ideas, scattered in the four tracks that make up the work. If the first two of these, basically, are ascribable to the nineties tradition, with their rhythms certainly slowed down but not to the limits of asphyxia, the third one, A Mantra For A New Found Hope, sees a decided increase in the use of the organ that pushes the Lusitanians sometimes on lands similar to Abysmal Grief. The final track is instead the longest and also the slowest, with its funeral-like pace and some painful melodic openings worthy of the best bands in the industry. Urania, regardless of who and how many they are, offer an orthodox but not less stimulating interpretation of the genre, keeping the listener’s attention thanks to a linear, effective and sometimes quite evocative writing. Good the first, for now, waiting for further developments.

2015 – Helldprod Records