HOUSE OF ATREUS
The Spear And The Ichor That Follows
(Dark Descent Records)
42:32min

HOUSE OF ATREUS is an American horde hailing from the cold Minneapolis in Minnesota and have been founded in 2011. After a demo release and an EP in 2013, the band have finally been signed to Dark Descent Records and releases now their first full-length album via this fine label. Similar to their now defunct country mates of ANCIENT WIND, the band plays American War Metal, which is melodic Death Metal, which has its roots in Swedish Melodic Death or Viking Metal of the 90s. It surely sounds different to the well-known Gothenburg style IN FLAMES used to play as the songs or even little hymns are more battle and war orientated. The lyrics deal with topics like the Roman and Greek history, which is a good option to the well-known typical Death Metal lyrics. The guitar sound is powerful and voluminous and very melodic, reminding a bit of early AMON AMARTH, sometimes melodic but also very thrashy and often influenced by Power Metal – esque tunes. Nice and technical solos and melodies complete the guitar front, while the drumming is also very technical and precise with some nice double-bass shots in the back. The vocals are the genre typical mixture of screams and grunts but very well-balanced to keep them on the same level with the other incorporated instruments. The production is clear and very powerful and perfectly fitting to their sound. The band has some really good ideas and a good sense for nice melodies. Maybe a little weak point is, that some good ideas are getting lost a bit in some songs while other songs are really straight and more compact. But it is really fun to listen to the tunes of these talented guys and fans of 90s influenced melodic Death Metal should definitely check them out. I am really curious to hear their development in the future (hopefully…) and it is good that a proper label finally picked them up. For more information check out: www.facebook.com/acclimatedbyforce, www.darkdescentrecords.com

Michael Kujawska

Michael Kujawska

Related reviews / interviews:
HOUSE OF ATREUS - Demo I (Anders Peter Jørgensen)

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