SYMPHONY MASSES - HO DRAKON HO MEGAS

This album is very difficult to describe: the base is again brutal death metal, but this time with classic heavy metal, speed/trash metal, hardcore, classic and folkish influences. Again, for a good look at Therion's classic style, it's not the album to begin with.

"Baal Reginon" is the intro of the album: a short slow-paced death metal track, in the vein of early Anathema. "Dark Princess Naamah" starts with hardcore-like vocals and slow paced music again (the intro is quite nice and melodic), but then the death metal frenzy takes over (too bad, the end of the song has almost clean vocals and a nice melodic outro). "A Black Rose" is really similar to Kreator's "As the world burns"... mid paced riff, speed metal type of vocals. "Symphoni Draconis Inferni" shows clear classic music influences, and the lyrics here (in latin!) are more spoken than sung. "Dawn Of Perishness" starts like a classic heavy metal song - you even almost get the riff from Trust's "Antisocial" here - with the hardcore voice again. Really sounds like a cross between Guns & Roses and Trust with Kreator influences again, but sung by a death metal vocalist with occasional death metal style of fast riffing. "The Eye Of Eclipse" starts again smoothly with mid paced tempo and classical influences, but the rhythm changes quickly to brutal death metal. "The Ritualdance Of The Yezidis" starts with a metal riff and spoken words, but at mid song it changes to persian music! "Powerdance": nothing much to say... fast and brutal. "Procreation Of Eternity" is again pure death metal, but it includes some rhythm changes. The last song "Ho Drakon Ho Megas" (mostly instrumental) shows again more classic influences, and it is probably the best transition to the following albums.

Rating: 50/100