Aeklypsis - Mirror Of Darkness

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\r\n  Aeklypsis from Athens, Greece exist since\r\n2008 and have just released their first EP entitled ”Mirror Of Darkness”.  They started off as an Ensiferum cover band,\r\nbut later on they decided to create their own music.  The EP contains three songs and lasts sixteen\r\nminutes.\r\n

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\r\n  The opener “Winter” starts kind of numbly,\r\nwith muddy sound and unstable performing. \r\nIt gets better though almost immediately and it becomes obvious that\r\nAeklypsis play epic, melodic black/death with many tempo changes.  They use a lot of keys and clean vocals to\r\nbuild an epic atmosphere.  At some parts,\r\nthe keyboards could have sounded better and should have been more cleverly incorporated\r\nin the music.  The guitars save the day\r\nwith many playing styles that include black metal “scratching”, aggressive death\r\nmetal riffing and some quite decent leads. \r\nI should also mention that the bass pops up here and there reminding us\r\nof its presence.  “The Dark Mirror” makes\r\na good start and at some moments reminds of Amon Amarth.  The vocals include some very nice black/death\r\ngrowls and some clean male and female chants.  There is also a small choir and a narration\r\nand the keys here are a lot better.  Nonetheless,\r\nthe song should have ended earlier than its eight minutes.  The EP ends with “Ravenhell”, a speedy\r\naggressive tune that reminded me of Mithotyn (remember them?).\r\n

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\r\n  The three songs are pleasant to listen to but\r\nthey take a lot of improvement.  At some\r\nparts they try to play more technical than they should and I would also prefer\r\na better use of keyboards.  They should\r\ntry to leave their influences behind and create something more solid.  Otherwise, I think that they have what it\r\ntakes to succeed in the specific genre.\r\n

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