"Worlds Beyond the Veil"
Rating: [10/10]
***
There is an old adage that goes: the best things come to those who wait. As a narrative to the climate of UK death metal internationally, it's a perfect way to describe the last decade at least. Yeah, sure we have produced bands like Benediction and Bolt Thrower and of course, Desecration.
Now the UK is producing acts that seriously threaten the Yanks' and Swedes' domination. Bands such as Akercocke with their blackened death; Gorerotted, yeah okay, they're more goregrind; the superb technically progressive darkness of Detrimentum and many others now clawing their way up.
Then there is Mithras.
With their second album, they have just delivered probably the best release of any artist in the UK, of any genre of music - ever.
With 'Worlds Beyond the Veil', Mithras have conquered not just death metal's throne but all of metal's as well.
Bold words? I suspect there will be some shaking heads in disapproval, but witness it's sheer power, gargantuan scale, and the mind-melting sounds and you'll be scraping yourself up off the floor afterwards in shocked awe and you will testify.
If the basis of music is to move, connect and emote the listener, then "Worlds..." does exactly that. And then some. This album is emotional depth charge of sheer concussion, literally draining you as slab after slab of sound crashes in on you with such compositional daring and flare rarely seen in the genre. The rush starts fomr the feet and consumes you in searing waves of adrenalin charged electricity leaving you covered with goosebumps.
Where death metal has this dark, furrowing feeling in its sound, weight and punishment, Mithras takes you where the sky meets the mountains; it's vast and timeless in effect - check out the instrumental "The Sands of Time".
The guitars are gonna be the main talking point; they mirror some mythological behemoth in scale. Death metal as a style has never sounded so, well, HUGE. Mithras back that sound with intent and substance. How? After the chasmic atmosphere of "Portal to the..." your ears melt at the unbelievable drum speed as the fastest double bass blast I have ever heard propels the title track - you have to listen agin just to catch it all. It's like looking into a tornado, you need time to get your head round the blast to see all, and it's topped off with god-like death vocals.
[...and then some track by track discussion...]
Mithras have single-handedly brought a new dimension and conciousness not just to death metal but to extreme music as a whole. "Worlds Beyond the Veil" is an album not just of its time but one for the ages, and Mithras will rise in the annals of music alongside such names as Sabbath or Maiden, or Metallica circa 'Master of Puppets', or Morbid Angel for the sheer far reaching influence their music brings to the world.
Mithras have not just re-defined death metal or even, the wider world of extreme metal, they have marked in the fabric of time an essence which will go before all as a totem to how powerful, individual and life affirming the feeling of our music is.
I've said it before and I will say it again: this is beyond. In fact this is beyond the ability of most bands. Not just for now but for evermore.
Essential.
***
OK I think this album rules, and as you've seen, I had it at my #3 spot, but by golly, even Mithras must be shaking their heads in embarrasment to a review like that. Do you think the guy, Stuart Banks, typed the whole thing out with one hand??? (I know I did, but that's besides the point).
Rating: [10/10]
***
There is an old adage that goes: the best things come to those who wait. As a narrative to the climate of UK death metal internationally, it's a perfect way to describe the last decade at least. Yeah, sure we have produced bands like Benediction and Bolt Thrower and of course, Desecration.
Now the UK is producing acts that seriously threaten the Yanks' and Swedes' domination. Bands such as Akercocke with their blackened death; Gorerotted, yeah okay, they're more goregrind; the superb technically progressive darkness of Detrimentum and many others now clawing their way up.
Then there is Mithras.
With their second album, they have just delivered probably the best release of any artist in the UK, of any genre of music - ever.
With 'Worlds Beyond the Veil', Mithras have conquered not just death metal's throne but all of metal's as well.
Bold words? I suspect there will be some shaking heads in disapproval, but witness it's sheer power, gargantuan scale, and the mind-melting sounds and you'll be scraping yourself up off the floor afterwards in shocked awe and you will testify.
If the basis of music is to move, connect and emote the listener, then "Worlds..." does exactly that. And then some. This album is emotional depth charge of sheer concussion, literally draining you as slab after slab of sound crashes in on you with such compositional daring and flare rarely seen in the genre. The rush starts fomr the feet and consumes you in searing waves of adrenalin charged electricity leaving you covered with goosebumps.
Where death metal has this dark, furrowing feeling in its sound, weight and punishment, Mithras takes you where the sky meets the mountains; it's vast and timeless in effect - check out the instrumental "The Sands of Time".
The guitars are gonna be the main talking point; they mirror some mythological behemoth in scale. Death metal as a style has never sounded so, well, HUGE. Mithras back that sound with intent and substance. How? After the chasmic atmosphere of "Portal to the..." your ears melt at the unbelievable drum speed as the fastest double bass blast I have ever heard propels the title track - you have to listen agin just to catch it all. It's like looking into a tornado, you need time to get your head round the blast to see all, and it's topped off with god-like death vocals.
[...and then some track by track discussion...]
Mithras have single-handedly brought a new dimension and conciousness not just to death metal but to extreme music as a whole. "Worlds Beyond the Veil" is an album not just of its time but one for the ages, and Mithras will rise in the annals of music alongside such names as Sabbath or Maiden, or Metallica circa 'Master of Puppets', or Morbid Angel for the sheer far reaching influence their music brings to the world.
Mithras have not just re-defined death metal or even, the wider world of extreme metal, they have marked in the fabric of time an essence which will go before all as a totem to how powerful, individual and life affirming the feeling of our music is.
I've said it before and I will say it again: this is beyond. In fact this is beyond the ability of most bands. Not just for now but for evermore.
Essential.
***
OK I think this album rules, and as you've seen, I had it at my #3 spot, but by golly, even Mithras must be shaking their heads in embarrasment to a review like that. Do you think the guy, Stuart Banks, typed the whole thing out with one hand??? (I know I did, but that's besides the point).
