Calling themselves as mixed martial arts metallers, London, England based Kerosys are newcomers, formed in May 2011, even though the songs were written during 5-6 year period. This two member project (Shadow Venger on guitar with vocalist Cyclonis Niyil-ka) have mixed many kinds of metal styles together. Does that help them to rise above grey mass, then?
'The Destroyer' begins with epic, soundtrack-ish way, before entering into melodic death and thrash metal dimensions. Its dramatic melody-weaving, with Machinae Supremacy / Dragonforce style lead guitar ending, is very catchy. 'Cyclonic Beast' features some truly finger-twisting riffage and also some straight attacking parts, plus big synthesizer walls. 'Inverted Circles' go to many places, and new one that was not treaded on previous songs, is more rocking melodic style. 'Mesmeric Silver Stares' has a mystical Mid-Eastern feeling to it, suddenly taking a plunge into acoustic guitar / lead guitar section. Deathrashing of 'Hunting Humans' sounds so straight after four more wider, twisting songs, that it feels a bit out of place here. The title track is an eerie journey beyond death, being doomy without sounding totally like doom metal.
The music is lively, and to some extenct, reminds me of Japan's Manipulated Slaves and USA's thrashers Soulless. However, Kerosys have been able to carve themselves a nice small niche. The weakest thing about the music are those riffs, that do not sound as inspiring as some, feeling simply too average among the great ones. Some of the compositional work also feels uneven, discordant, but when you are willing to read the lyrics while listening to it, it suddenly feels much, much intact.
The vocals are a tad one-dimensional, sounding like bloody throat wheezing, sometimes reminding of Tom Angelripper of Sodom or Christ Agony's Cezar. The problem is,that his voice gets weak on faster parts, sounding like he was barely able to breathe out the words. There is some black metal shrieking backing at times. The lyrics are about Egyptian and Arabic mythoses (or somewher around that corner of the world, or perhaps about Hermetic Qabalah?), except for killer tale of 'Hunting Humans' and the title track itself. Even though the drums are programmed, they are done well. They sound quite genuine, as well as are though out properly. Sound is generally clear, and quite heavy too on lower tones, but guitar tone is a bit muffled. I think it might be my copy only, but songs 3-6 has some annoying cracking sounds in he background. Check out those copies you're shipping out, guys!
'Rise from Your Grave' was created during 5-6 years, and it kind of hears, due to various styles featured in its songs. It is pretty enjoyable at its best parts, but there are average ones, too. It hardly is boring, though. Kerosys gain special mention for sounding themselves. Next time, the song material will hopefully be more solid.
Rating: 6+ (out of 10) ratings explained
Reviewed by Lane
10/30/2011 13:23
