Valkyrian Music

Devilish Impressions
Simulacra
Due for release/Released: July 2012
Symphonic Black Metal/ Death Metal
Released via Label: Lifeforce Records

‘Simulacra’ is the third album from the Polish black/death metal band Devilish Impressions. The album features a number of quotes from the works of famous authors including Edgar Allan Poe, Lord Byron and William Blake. It also features guest performances from Behemoth’s bassist Orion, Lost Soul’s guitarist Jacek Grecki and Asgaard’s Flumen.

First up is ‘Icaros’ which treats the listener to some keyboard infused symphonic black metal with a combination harsh and clean vocals. Yet don’t be fooled into thinking that this is just another one of those melodic black metal albums where the guitars are tuned down in favor of keyboards and clean vocals. As the subsequent tracks reveal, Devilish Impressions is far too complex of a beast to bear the tag of ‘symphonic black metal’.

Sure there are a handful melodic tracks like the Agathodaimon style ballad ‘Lilith’ and the symphonic ‘The Last Farewell’ but there are also more original works like ‘Fear No Gods’. The latter sees an unusual mixture of genres including death metal drumming, symphonic keyboards, samples, melodic guitars and black metal vocals. Then there’s ‘The Scream Of The Lambs’ which lives up to its name offering a mixture of terror due to the vocals and the fast drumming, and an odd sense of innocence and tranquility due to the symphonic keyboards. The undisputed highlight of the album is blackened death metal anthem that is ‘Vi Veri Vniversum Vivus Vici’.

4/5 – a must have for fans of Agathodaimon and Vesania.

Iza Raittila

This entry was posted on 23rd August 2012 at 3:46 pm and is filed under Review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.