by Sebastian Kluth
Par kluseba
Years sixty-eight and sixty-nine were particularly complicated in Ancient Rome and already foreshadowed the incoming downfall of the gigantic empire. Roman emperor Nero committed suicide after a reign of thirteen years after being deserted by the Praetorian Guard and sentenced to death by the Senate. Galba seized power with the support of the Praetorian Guard and the Senate but was murdered by the Praetorian Guard only seven months later. Otho had led the coup d'état and seized power himself. After only three months, Otho however committed suicide after losing the Battle of Bedriacum to Vittelius. The latter thus became emperor but his reign only lasted for eight months as he was murdered by Vespasian's troops. Vespasian thus seized power and his reign finally lasted ten years before he died of dysentery.
As you can read, what is now known as the Year of the Four Emperors from Galba until Vespasian, might inspire numerous movies, novels and television series. Quebec's symphonic death metal band Ex Deo was certainly bound to cover these historical events at some point in its career since it has always released albums about Roman culture, history and society. The band's seventeenth year now sees the release of an extended play with one song dedicated to each of the four emperors in chronological order. As you might guess, the historical topic is at least as interesting as the music on display.
Let's talk about what the quintet offers its fans three and a half years after its last studio album The Thirteen Years of Nero. The group finds a balanced mixture between dramatic mid-paced death metal and opulent symphonic instrumental sections. This means that the different songs are entertaining and vary fluidly between calm and intense moments. All four songs deserve to be revisited and grow with every spin.
On the other side, the classic death metal musicianship is at times too simplistic. The guitar riffs for instance fail to leave any lasting expression and sound at times like uninspired backdrops. The same could be said about the harsh vocals that are missing any relevant identity. They rush by without giving a negative or a positive impression. Numerous other genre vocalists can easily be recognized after a few seconds but Ex Deo's Maurizio Iacono sadly lacks charisma, identity and inspiration.
The impressions of the ambitious lyrics are also rather mixed. The lyrical topics are obviously very interesting but the way they are delivered is lacking vision. They sound like a summary given by a history teacher with rather limited skills in terms of details, passion and vocabulary. One certainly couldn't have expected a master's thesis here and such an approach is also not needed for a symphonic death metal extended play but the final result on display here doesn't exploit the lyrics' full potential and thus feels disappointingly unfulfilled.
It's still recommended to listen to Ex Deo's Year of the Four Emperors to get some solid symphonic death metal sounds and a few valuable lessons about the remarkable historical events that still deserve to be analyzed, discussed and known in this day and age. However, the extended play is only a good return for the quartet that fails to leave a truly lasting impression.
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