Here’s a nice sophomore album from a couple of former Order From Chaos members (Mike Miller and Chuck Keller), and while the other Order From Chaos member, Pete Helmkamp has gone for the throat with his post Order From Chaos projects (Angelcorpse and the recent Kerasphorus EP), Ares Kingdom are content to deliver metal that’s purely rooted in old school death/thrash metal reminiscent of Possessed, Celtic Frost and such.

What gives Ares Kingdom a lot of its nostalgia is the gruff but not growled vocals of Alex Blume and the use of frequent solos that drench the effort in a whole late 80’s vibe and honesty that’s not over produced or focused entirely on one single element or genre.

Most of the albums highlights are the tracks that deliver some nifty old school melodic solos and catchy, steady, thrashing, grumbling metal such as the title track, rangy “Descent of Man”, “Silent Mortal Flesh (Convergence)” and “Ashen Glory”, in fact the albums whole first half. But when the band tries to turn up the intensity and menace (“Beasts that Perish”, “Abandon In Place”) and render some more deathly blast beats, it begins the waver and simply lacks that bite to make it convincing. That stuff is best left to Helmkamp.

The dry, simple production is effective in being old school but still carrying the weight of the music without being forced or overly retro. However, as a whole, the album, with its longer that usual songs does tend to start wheezing and huffing in its later stages, with less memorable moments and some rather filler acoustic moments and interludes. But that doesn’t make the rest of the albums energy any less enjoyable and a nice few tracks of solid old school death/thrash metal that’s a pleasant change from über brutality, triggered drums and breakdowns.

[Visit the band's website]

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