Despite the fact this is pretty obvious The Black Dahlia Murder worship a la Wretched, Mirror of Dead Faces, Sons Of Azrael etc, but it’s better than those bands and I have to say I’m kinda digging this- a lot.

From the killer cover to the injection of some excellent Woe of Tyrants – like sweeping solos, the frantic, almost Tino LoSicco (Epoch of Unlight) like drumming of former Destroy Destroy Destroy drummer Eric Brown, slicing melodic riffs and the odd orchestral injection, the whole affair just comes together in a tightly knit release of high energy melodic death/black metal with obvious US influences.

The End of an Era isn’t going to change metal, but it is going to provide 54 minutes of ripping, taught metal enjoyment for fans of any of the bands I’ve mentioned so far. The vocals are the expected high scream with some lower growls provided by Diskreet’s Malcolm Pugh, so again nothing really new, but I’ll be damned if the likes of blistering opener (after the orchestral intro “The Ruin of Mankind”) “Gatherings In the Chambers of Madness”, the shredding “The Endless Siege”, fierce melody of “Sentenced to Eternal Life” and “The War Machine Embodiment”, standout, epic instrumental track “The Warriors Infinite Opus” and closer “Cursed Unholy” (with guest vocals from Swashbuckle’s Pat Henry) satisfy the heck out of me with plenty off urgent, placed leads and a pretty continual high octane approach.

My only gripes are that some of the songs are a bit to long for the continually fast paced style (a few of the songs hover around six minutes and the aforementioned instrumental is over 8 minutes) and despite a mix from Zach Ohren (All Shall Perish, Odious Mortem, Severed Savior, As Blood Runs Black, etc), the effort sounds just a little flat and lacking polish to give it that finite tightness that this style usually delivers. Then again, this was originally a self released effort which Tribunal has re-released, so I doubt the budget was there for a better, fuller sound.

Overall, a very solid, promising release that despite its blatant influence, adds enough vitality and fierce shreddage to make it stand out from the pack.

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