Karma Violens founded its cruising speed.
Created in 2002 in Greece, the band plays Metalcore, then quickly changes for some epic Black Metal? After many line-up changes and three albums, Ilias « Blackbones » Zounis (vocals), Costas Papadopoulos (guitar), George Karakouzidis (guitar), Steven Elpiziotis (bass) and Sevan Barsam (drums) unveil us Mount of the Congregation, their fourth album.
As for their two previous albums, the band called Giannis Nakos (Evergrey, Blood Red Throne, Oceans of Slumber, Relics of Humanity…) for a both epic and grandiose artwork, like Necropolis, the introduction, lets us imagine. The band doesn’t lie, because their Black Metal basis wears some Death metal influences, seizing melodies and massive howlings, strengthening this heavy and hooking basis. Leads offer more heady parts, like on Great Old Ithaqua or My Storm Upon You, some patterns picked from the norwegian scene, with One Way Journey and The Observer, but the rhythmic section knows how to exploit the band’s strength, like Embrace or Kingdom of the Deserters, which also wears some Thrash accents. A soft break with violin on Exodus, then the band goes back to Mount of the Congregation, another massive song. Spoken words introduce us to the song’s story, before the vocalist is joined by seizing female vocals. Fly Into the Starlight, a short and soft instrumental, comes to break the rhythm again, then The Gathering picks into the nordic scene too. Rage bursts into fire once more before leaving place for Mark on my Forehead, a song that melts violence and coldness, then Light Beyond the Event Horizon makes dissonance and federative patterns live together. The song seems to be the most accessible, making it perfect to close this album.
This new Karma Violens album comes to confirm their style between Black, Death and nordic influences. Mount of the Congregation falls within this vein of very effective epic mythological inspiration that will please as on album as on stage.
75/100
