惊叫基督 / Screaming Savior - 永战之海 / Ocean of Asura (2011) - Epic melodic black metal with a power metal touch - 92% (10/02/12)

Screaming Savior are a quite talented and intriguing symphonic black metal band from Shanghai that deliver a strong output with this little EP that contains three regular tracks and two instrumentals that show how detailed and rich the band's compositions are. While the first instrumental is truly epic and would fit to the score of any pirate movie, the second one has a slightly electronic touch and shows a different side of the band.

Nowadays, there are way too many bands that sing about pirates but this here is not your usual stereotypical party folk music that you still can yell after a bottle of rum. The three regular tracks we have here are epic and symphonic and develop a very majestic atmosphere without sounding too overloaded as many other popular melodic black metals bands such as Dimmu Borgir or Cradle Of Filth do. There are keyboards in the opening and closing passages but the melodic guitars, the powerful drums, the pumping bass guitar and the great vocals that vary between crispy spoken word passages, energizing screams and well done shouts where you can even understand the lyrics that are mostly performed in Mandarin. This language fits strangely well to the music and could easily please to any fan of great symphonic black metal around the world.

The band has also a distinguished style by the fact that they use almost no blast beat passages and that their music is rather slow even when they vary a lot. The music has clear structure and is easy to follow. This small record is much more about and entertaining aesthetic than about brutality and depression. Those who prefer depressive or brutal black metal should stay away from this. The band's atmosphere sometimes even reminds me of Scandinavian melodic metal bands such as Amorphis, Turisas or even the famous Children Of Bodom. This fusion of these two very opposite styles is what makes this band so interesting in my opinion. The melodic guitar solos could also come from a decent power metal act which is very interesting. Let's add that each of the three songs has a gripping passage. They are unique enough to sound diversified but similar enough to create a great flow and make you want to hear more. The songs are all equally great in their own way so that I don't want to point anyone out of them.

It's quite hard to get an album of the band outside of Asia but I will try my very best to purchase their upcoming record that features at least the great title track of this little record and I recommend you to do the same if you happen to like this.