Prometheus - Aornos

#FOR FANS OF: Atmospheric Black/Death

The Greek trio Prometheus returns two years after its crushing 'Resonant Echoes from Cosmos of Old' with a new opus, hopefully destinated to confirm the strengths found in the aforementioned album. The line-up has suffered only a change, although a quite important one, as the vocalist Aggelos was replaced in 2021 by Meleager, who is part of the also interesting project Archemoron.

Prometheus mixes black and death metal influences with certain atmospheric touches. If in the previous album, I noticed there was a great contrast between the first part, which was more brutal and sinister, and the second, where the atmospheric touch has a more prominent role, I can definitely say that Prometheus new opus continues to have this clear contrast between compositions. 'Aornos', the name of the new beast, begins with a short and nice intro, despite the real beginning is the second and brutal track "The Devouring Chasm", where Prometheus effortlessly mixes black and death metal influenced riffs. The mentioned contrast is clear as certain riffs are truly heavy, while the black metal ones have a classic tremolo style. Furthermore, the track also has some atmospheric keys, which enrich the composition and highlight the difference between the most melodic and smashing sides of Prometheus music. The new vocalist Meleager does sound a bit different, being his growls not as deep as the former singer’s ones, although they are quite competent. Apart from this, I appreciate his effort to add more nuances to his vocal performance, with black metal influenced shrieks and also some cleaner voices, which sound quite phantasmagorical. The subsequent tracks "Slithering Tongue and Lethe" and "Mnemosyne", leaving behind the fact that the later one has an atmospheric/folk intro and an ambient outro, sound closer to the most brutal side of Prometheus music. The death metal tendence is quite clear, as both the demolishing drums and the heavy riffage follow the patterns of this genre. In any case, the track also includes some typical black metal riffing which is adequately included in both compositions. As it happened in 'Resonant Echoes from Cosmos of Old', the second half of the album brings back some of the atmosphere we enjoyed in the album opener. The track "Vessel of Empiricism" is clearly the slowest track of the whole album, with a strong atmospheric flavour, a quite peculiar vocal approach, and an interesting guitar work, which includes some captivating melodies. The album comes to its end with an epic composition divided in two parts, "The Alpha and the Omega Revealed". The fast pace returns in the first part in a composition that breaks the usual balance between death and black metal, which a sound clearly tending to the later one. The guitar work is again quite interesting and enjoyable, as it adapts to the changing pace of the composition, even though it always sounds quite melodic. The second half still has a strong black metal approach, but also includes some riffs which sound closer to the death metal genre and they even have some dissonance at moments. Thanks to its remarkable length the song has many ups and downs in its pace and a quite varied vocal performance and structure. Moreover, it also includes some atmospheric keys again which makes me happy, as I have already mentioned in the previous album, that Prometheus always includes simple yet quality key sections.

'Aornos' is definitively a solid continuation to the excellent 'Resonant Echoes from Cosmos of Old' despite the fact that it doesn’t sound as inspired as the previous album. Stylistically it is perhaps a better-balanced effort, but I feel, and this is totally subjective, that the strongest moments of that album might be greater that the ones we find here. In any case, this is a very good album of black/death metal with excellent compositions and great work behind it. (Alain González Artola)

(I, Voidhanger Records - 2022)
Score: 80

https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/aornos 

Prometheus - Resonant Echoes from Cosmos of Old

#FOR FANS OF: Black/Death, Disembowelment

The amount of fine releases coming from the ancient lands of Greece in this tricky year has been one of the best surprises, if we can define as a surprise the high quality of releases coming from a scene, which is highly respected by fans of the black metal genre around the World. Regardless of the time of existence, both new and classic bands seem to have found a moment of inspiration to release tasteful albums in 2020. The Greek trio Prometheus, coming from central Macedonia, a place well-known in Europe´s history, does not want to be the exception and has released its sophomore album entitled ‘Resonant Echoes from Cosmos of Old’. Prometheus was founded some years ago and it took nearly a decade from its early demos to be finally able to release a first effort, entitled ‘Consumed in Flames’. Even though the quality of that album made the wait worthwhile. That was a defining moment from which the trio became more active, releasing three years later an EP and a new full album.

‘Resonant Echoes from Cosmos of Old’ is the name of the new beast, whose style is firmly rooted in the black metal genre. In contrast to other Greek acts, which have a greater melodic component, Prometheus delivers a truly crushing and sinister sound in this album, though its compositions don´t lack completely of a melodic touch. The initial part of the album contains truly heavy and dark tracks like "Astrophobos" or the impressive album opener "Gravitons Passing Through Yog-Sothoth". In these songs we can appreciate that sonically the riffs are deep, cavernous and truly shadowy. The style reminds me bands like the Portuguese The Ominous Circle, with this demolishing heaviness, which is maybe more common in the death metal genre. The pace follows the same patterns, with a combination of fast sections and super heavy slower parts, as said which are maybe more prominent in the death metal genre. Still, the genre can be tagged as black metal because of its atmosphere and also tough the vocals are as cavernous as the riffs are. When you think that ‘Resonant Echoes from Cosmos of Old’ is a furious and well-composed album, yet with a predictable development, the album changes in its second half, bringing some interesting surprises. The tastefully melodic end of the third track "Astrophobos" serves as little introduction of what we will find in this later section. The traditional structure of voice-guitars-drums, which have had the main role during the first part of this album is suddenly accompanied by some atmospheric keys in songs like the homonymous one and the excellent album closer "The Crimson Tower of the Headless God". Stylistically the compositions don´t change so much, as the vocals continue to be deep and aggressive and the riffs remarkably heavy. But Prometheus rightly adds a greater degree of melody in certain riffs of these songs and the aforementioned keys play a major role in order to give a new epic touch to these compositions. Suddenly, the album acquires new characteristics, while it evolves to its end making this effort surprising and fresh in its later stage. The epic final song of this album sums up the different angles of this album, combining the fast and slower parts, the monstrous riffs and a majestic atmospheric side, which enriches this song and makes it a glorious way to end this excellent album.

The talent that Prometheus shows in the later part makes me wonder how a full album with songs like "The Crimson Tower of the Headless God" could sound. Anyway, the contrasting two sides of this sophomore album make it a truly interesting work, because this unexpected evolution sounds refreshing and exciting. At any rate, both sides of this album have a high degree of quality and will please any fan of extreme metal. (Alain González Artola)

 

(I, Voidhanger Records - 2020)
Score: 83

https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/resonant-echoes-from-cosmos-of-old