IRIDIUM

"Iridium" is the 3rd full-length studio album by Greek death metal act Cerebrum. The album was released through Transcending Obscurity Records in December 2018. It´s the successor to "Cosmic Enigma" from 2013 and features one lineup change as Cerebrum have finally found a permanent drummer in Defkalion Dimos. The drums on both predecessors were played by session drummer George Kollias, who is known for his work with Nile.

Cerebrum started out playing a semi-progressive and technically well played type of early 90s influenced death metal on "Spectral Extravagance (2009)" and upped the progressive and technical tendencies even further on "Cosmic Enigma (2013)" (which featured some fairly odd jazz/fusion moments), but on "Iridium" they´ve scaled back some of the technical/progressive extravangancy of especially the predecessor, so in that respect it´s a more straight forward and simple death metal release. That description should be taken with a grain of salt though, as "Iridium" is still a techncially well played death metal release.

The musicianship is decent too and "Iridium" also features a fairly well sounding production, so on most parameters it´s a decent quality release. The songwriting is not that interesting though, and there are generally very few riffs or catchy vocal phrases to hold on to, and most of the album go by without me noticing anything out of the ordinary. The throaty growling vocal style by vocalist/guitarist Jim Touras is not a plus in my book either. His voice and vocal style sound a bit powerless and lacking any real bite.

Upon conclusion this is not a positive development for Cerebrum, which sound a bit like a band experiencing an identity crises. "Spectral Extravagance (2009)" was a promising debut and "Cosmic Enigma (2013)" was also a decent quality technical/progressive death metal release, but "Iridium" sounds like a step backwards in both songwriting and musicianship and that´s not a positive development three albums in. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)