Decapitated drummer James Stewart bolsters Adon’s self-titled album (Neuropa Records). He adds more titanic depth to the stomp of the band’s larger-than-life grooves. The vocals are marginally more sinister than your standard Death Metal, with a cruel-hearted rasp that brings Deicide to mind in this regard.
A Black Metal influence colors their sound, though the music being made works off too grooving aggression to describe the actual songs as being Black Metal. The guitar solos help solidify this band’s place as a Death Metal band. There is the occasional blast beat cropping up here and there, but that can be said of most Death Metal bands.
They storm the gates on the second song which is driven by a grandiose sense of aggression. If this was Black Metal it might be tempered with a more introspective worship of darkness, but that is not what they are going for. They are song-focused enough to give these sounds room to breathe.
This sets the stage for even more epic chugs to come. Melody wins out over dissonance, chaos or sorrow. The title track carries an almost symphonic cadence to its sweeping grandiose nature of the songwriting that allows this to sprawl out for over sixteen minutes. In the first five minutes of the song, they unpack more riffs than some bands cram into an entire album. All of the riffs they pack in do sound great; it just becomes a matter of taste and how much hook you need from riffs to get your head banging.
“Azimuth” finds the riffs locking into a cool chug that builds into more blasting. This is marginally more Black Metal than other moments that have also flirted with this sonic shade earlier in the album.
“Axiom” feels like an extension of the previous song if it sped up and decorated with more prog ambitions. Production wise there is a very massive polished sound to this album. Everything is dialed in just right, which is important with so many layers of instrumentation in motion at all times. Without the careful ear of a skilled producer, this might sound like a jumbled mess.
They close the album with an eleven-minute epic. This song however feels like it is jammed out more organically and makes more sense than their previous sprawling epic rather than indulging in the excess of piling up section after section of riffs atop other riffs. If you are into various brands of Progressive Metal this might rather be appealing to you.
Fans of this band’s orchestrated sense of sonic excess will appreciate what unfolds here. The band succeeded in making the album they sought to create, making this album a triumph in that regard, and if you are looking for an aggressive, larger-than-life brand of Death Metal to attack your ears, these guys have you covered. The magnitude of these riff buffets packaged as songs will surely make the mouths of riff gluttons water.
Buy the album here:
https://adonmetal.bandcamp.com/album/adon
8 / 10
WIL CIFER