Omnia Malis Est - Viteliú

#FOR FANS OF: Black Metal, Vreid, Infernal Angels, Leviathan

Managing to make it to their debut effort after years of inactivity, this Italian Black Metal solo project offers an overall impressive effort that really makes it a wonder why it took so long to get released. The main selling point here is the epic arrangements within this that still maintain a fiery melodic quality from the dynamic tremolo-picked riffing on display which allows for a series of high-speed efforts that really tend to wrap themselves into long stretches of majestic keyboards, blazing drum-work and those fiery tremolo rhythms that maintain a stylistic edge throughout here. The tracks are up-tempo and blast-heavy while also managing to incorporate enough melody to really appear quite appealing throughout here with this one really going overboard on the melodic lines running throughout here. The most surprisingly thing about all this melody running throughout the material is that it never hinders the Black Metal framework present, making the music all the more enjoyable with some really ferocious anthems on display, as well as plenty of energy and enthusiasm during the majority of the tracks here which is all the more surprising considering this is all done with one person. However, it’s not going to deny how good this is as there’s a lot to like here. The title track begins this nicely with a calming guitar intro against lapping waves before coming into stylish melodic riffing droning on into blasting high-speed drumming and fiery tremolo-picked rhythms firing throughout rampaging rhythms and plenty of sonic firepower for an utterly impressive start to this. Following this, ‘Al di delle Forche’ blasts through with charging riff-work and pounding drumming which features a much more obvious intent on melodic rhythms and frenzied tremolo-picked patterns that barrel throughout the second half here for an even more impressive effort. ‘A Diana’ tends to offer up much more chaos-riddled patterns up-front with discordant blasting drumming and frantic tremolo-picked patterns that most drop away for a series of long, droning guitar passages that just drag on a lot longer than it really should as the length here really works against this one. ‘Primavera Sacra’ makes up for this minor misstep with a blazing return to chaotic drumming, fiery tremolo-picked and blazing speed whipping through frantic energetic patterns that are simply dripping with melodic lines in the second half, managing to be one of the album’s highlights quite easily while setting up ‘Ner Tefúrúm’ as a mid-album breather bleeding through the sounds of a sword-clashing battle with light, melancholic riffing that feels a natural extension from the previous track. The blazing ‘Battaglia di Porta Collina’ is yet another hyper-speed melody-driven effort with plenty of fiery rhythms and dynamic drumming that doesn’t lose the speed throughout here despite again dropping off for more melodic firepower in the later half which makes this another strong highlight offering. ‘Sabella Carmina’ is a much better attempt at doing the epic-length track as this one doesn’t really lose much of the pounding energy and furious riff-work charging along the majestic ambient keyboards alongside the furious tempos on display as this really whips up the speed through some impressive riffing on display for one more solid, impressive track. Lastly, ‘Disfatta’ tends to just go for the jugular here as the furious riff-work and lack of melody dominate the charging patterns on display and really showcase the instruments firing off splendidly in one stand-out series of riffs after another while offering that blistering drumming, dynamic tremolo patterns and slight doses of melodic touches for an overall grand ending to this one ending on such a high. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take this long to get a second one, as this one was quite enjoyable. (Don Anelli)

(Hidden Marly Production - 2015)
Score: 85

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