Azathoth

Azathoth is a band out of Fresno, CA who has apparently made a large impact on the local black/death metal scene, and a damn good one at that.

Azathoth's first output consists of 6 songs, with 2 being intro/outro songs consisting of beautiful piano work in the vein of Dissection's No Dreams Breed in Breathless Sleep from their 1995 effort Storm of the Light's Bane.

The album starts beautifully with the intro piano track which leads right into the somewhat generic melodic death/power metal sounding intro to In Darkest Dreams which soon morphs well into a melodic black/death metal sonic attack. One of the first things you notice straight off the bat is the prominent bass sound present throughout this song, as well as the rest of the album. For an EP from a local band this has pretty great production: the keyboards are audible , the lead guitarwork is effective and doesn't get overpowered by the remarkably bassy sound the album boasts, and the overall balance between the instruments is done very well without anything being drowned out.

Alhazred starts out with a pounding intro with the drums, bass and guitars repeatedly kicking you in the nuts until the majestic ambiance provided by the keyboardist kicks in to give an eerie aura to the song. Eventually the song kicks into a pretty shredding keyboard solo, which is far from generic and keeps the upbeat tempo that the song has held true to up until then. The keyboard is somewhat drowned out during the verses, but it makes a more prominent appearance during the chorus. The bridge provides a nice and jolly happy-go-lucky keyboard hook in the background which gives the song a folkier feel unique to the album's sound thus far. Overall a pretty good song, but weaker than its predecessor.

The Lament Configuration boasts a rather epic title and the song lives up to it. After an ominous intro the song kicks into high gear. The keyboards have a somewhat different sound to them than the other songs, almost sounding like a bell a la Metallica's For Whom the Bell Tolls, to a less prominent degree. The verse is frantic with the bell sounds going crazy in the background to spice things up. The song boasts a nice break with a thrashy riff soon followed with some epic keyboards soaring over the frantic pace the band sets forth. The best part of this song is the beautiful piano interlude with a somewhat fist pump-worthy transition into the madness of shredding solos and blasting drum beats. The band makes good transitions between being death metal for a bit to becoming a more melodic black metal sound with it's background keyboard and melodic guitarwork, a la Children of Bodom but WAY less over the top.

Amaranth unfortunately boasts the same name as a popular Nightwish song, but I assure you this is no ballad. This song kicks your ass right away with a thrashy riff complete with blasting and beautiful background effects. The band shows hints of bombasticness a la Equilibrium - Sagas for a bit, but never enough to think "hey they're blatantly taking a page out of INSERT BAND NAME HERE's book", which can be said for all the other band plugs stated thus far in the review. As usual, sweeping keyboards keep the song's pace frantic and epic followed by a beautiful acoustic interlude that really adds a welcome variety to the EP. The song closes with a fucking killer solo, both guitar and keyboard, and ends with a bang, which is the last of the actual songs for the EP.

The piano outro is a thing of beauty which essentially is a continuation from the intro track, great work.

The best part I think this band accomplishes is the subtle folkiness without being ridiculously cheesy whatsoever. Also, Azathoth know how to use tasteful solos as well as how to allow keyboards to create the perfect atmosphere for their music. It would be foolish for one not to anticipate what Azathoth can accomplish in their upcoming Full-Length album after what they've shown they can do on this fantastic debut EP. A few things could use refinement, such as the low vocals are sometimes a little foolish and a little bit better production wouldn't hurt, as the EP boasts very acceptable production value, especially for a self-financed EP. Overall, I expect nothing but greatness from these Fresno black/death metallers in their future efforts! \m/