After covering the Second Punic War with The Immortal Wars and Nero’s reign on The Thirteen Years of Nero, Ex Deo has moved to AD 69- the tumultuous year of .. well four emperors. Each of the songs is named after the respective emperors; Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian.

The formula is the same though, mid-paced chugging, excellently produced Kataklysm-ish death metal with a heavy use of keyboards a la Fleshgod Apocalypse, and such. “Galba” chugs along with commanding heft, while “Otho” is a massive lumbering number. “Vitellius” is more of the same, but a tad slower and it’s clear Ex Deo is a one-trick pony, even if that trick is pretty solid, but the band will never be on par with ADE.

That said, the last track “Vespasian”, is befitting of his Flavian Dynasty where Rome came out of the prior three emperors’ chaos to flourish and prosper for 27 years. The track’s triumphant, rousing riffs and epic synths come together to maybe make for Ex Deo‘s best track of their entire discography, and fulfill all that epic source materials potential finally. I hope the next full length continues the improvement.

Honestly-I should be drooling over this project, even more so with this album being themed after Hannibal and the Second Punic War. This may sound familiar, as Italy’s ADE also covered the subject on last years Carthago Delenda Est. which immediately draws comparisons like that slew of dual movie releases that were both about the same thing in the 80s and 90s (Deep Impact v Armageddon/ Dantes Peak v Volcano) . However, the project remains an anomaly; Big pounding ,melodic death metal riffs? yes. Full on epic Fleshgod Apocalypse-ish orchestration? yes!, Roman shit? YES!!!! But still I’m just lukewarm.

However, as with the first two albums, even with all the above going on, the project just underwhelms as it still comes across as cast off Nu-Kataklysm riffs with keyboards. The mostly mid paced chunky, melodic riffs rarely imbue anything too rousing, and frankly without the admittedly, epic orchestration, it would be rather bland.

But as I said, the efforts are improving and The Immortal Wars has some decent moments that caught my ear which is more than the last two albums. And those moments seem to be tied to faster or more varied or Romanic based tracks. For instance the closing of “Hispania (Siege of Saguntum)” is pretty damn rousing, “Cato Major: Carthago delenda est!” has some really good moments and more somber 6 minute closer “The Roman” is a pretty good end note.

But other wise, for the rest of the album, the band is reliant on riffs that plod along like anything from the last 3 Katasklysm albums (‘The Rise of Hannibal”, “The Crossing of the Alps”, ‘The Spoils of War”, “Ad Victoriam (The Battle of Zama)” . And we know how well those turned out…Still, I hold out hope that these guys will deliver something that blows me away, as all the ingredients are there, it just isn’t tasting right.

With the identical Hannibal theme as ADE , but a little lagging, when it comes to The Immortal Wars I can’t help but think that it is the Deep Impact  to Armageddon, the Wyatt Earp to Tombstone or Leviathan and Deep Star Six to The Abyss….

I wasn’t ever really that enamored with Romulus, the first release of Ex Deo, the epic, Roman themed side project headed by Kataklysm frontman Maurizio Iacono and most of his Kataklysm buddies. It seemed little more than unused Kataklysm riffs (whose recent output I also find boring) with synths and some typically Roman shit going on.  The music just never seemed to match the scope and scale of the subject matter and of their visual material.

But 3 years later, with a new label (Napalm is a much better fit in my opinion), a new bassist, Iacono (still with his pony tail and armor in two) appears to have elevated the material of the band with a bigger sound, better riffs and a few guests to make Caligula a much more interesting, if still a Kataklysm with synths affair.

Essentially, the formula is the same: mid paced death metal akin to marching cohorts and war machines thick with epic synths and rife with Roman stuff,  like battles,  emperors and gladiators – all enforced by all the Latin song titles. See? it doesn’t get more Roman than “Per Oculos Aquila”, “Divide Et Impera”, and “Pollice Verso (Damnatio Ad Bestia)”. But Iacono and co. have at least made the songs a little more dynamic, varied and interesting, if still sticking to the rigid formula and still retained their big budget and slick visuals.

Interestingly enough, the above embedded title track and album opener, is actually the album’s most dull track and if it wasn’t for the video (OK, the thong at 2:18 in the video), the track might put me to sleep. However, the rest of the album is far more interesting if thongless. Notably the likes of  standout “Divide Et Impera” which features alluring female vocal injections (courtesy of Tristania‘s Mariangela Demurtas), the somber march and melodies of “Pollice Verso (Damnatio Ad Bestia)”, slightly more rousing and urgent “Teutoburg (The Ambush of Varus)” and “Along the Appian Way”, (the start of which is one of the few moments on the album that actually comes close to the militant majesty of the Roman Empire,  other than closing instrumental “Evocatio: the Temple of Castor & Pollux”). I know there are synths and some epic shit going on in the lyrics, but this kind of music and subject matter just screams for something completely over the top and movie score symphonic, not just plodding background keys. These guys could learn thing or two from Bal-Sagoth about over the top epic.

And thusly, despite the minor improvement in overall quality of this album, Ex Deo only register slightly on my Richter scale, it’s just lacking something special to make it truly epic befitting the subject matter, and it still feels like a Kataklysm album with synths and togas.

Swedish death metal legends HYPOCRISY are readying to release their highly anticipated new full-length, A Taste Of Extreme Divinity. The record will mark the band’s their first full-length since 2005’s Virus. Commented frontman Peter Tagtgren on the record: “We’re happy of the result so far; its got everything a HYPOCRISY album should have in our own point of view. We will release it October 23rd (Europe) and November 3rd (North America) and start touring in the USA, supporting ENSIFERUM!”

Roman-themed death metal troop EX DEO, featuring members of Kataklysm and Blackguard, will be touring in support of their recently issued debut Romulus. “I would like to thank everyone from the ENSIFERUM camp for this generous invitation,” said mainman Maurizio Iacono. “We cordially accept the offer, but make no mistake: Rome bows to no one and our American legions are growing rapidly. We come for blood and we shall take no prisoners and in the great words of Caesar, ‘Vini, Vidi, Vici,’ and this is what we intend to do in November.”

Added BLACKGUARD vocalist Paul Ablaze: “We had such a blast with our Finnish brothers ENSIFERUM on the Summer Slaughter tour that a second round seems appropriate. Magnified by the legendary HYPOCRISY and our friends in the Roman legion of EX DEO, this will be the show to see this late fall.” The folk-influenced progressive metal act is currently celebrating the release of their debut, Profugus Mortis.

ENSIFERUM’s From Afar is scheduled for a US release on September 8, 2009 (September 9th for the rest of the world) via Spinefarm Records. The CD was produced by Tero Kinnunen (Nightwish, Amorphis) and Janne Joutsenniemi, who produced the band’s previous offering, Victory Songs and mixed by Hiili Hiilesmaa (HIM, Sentenced, Amorphis).

Finalized tour dates to be announced soon. Stay tuned!

http://www.myspace.com/officialensiferum
http://www.myspace.com/hypocrisy
http://www.myspace.com/exdeo
http://www.myspace.com/blackguard
http://www.myspace.com/spinefarmrecordsus
http://www.myspace.com/nuclearblastusa
http://www.myspace.com/sumerianrecords

Ex Deo consists of the entire Kataklysm line-up and Jonathan Leduc (Blackguard) on keyboards. The idea was the brainchild of Iacono and the sound created is best described as epic death metal/melodic death metal. Luckily, the band was able to pull off a quality album that is significantly different than anything Kataklysm has done and actually is more interesting and varied. The only thing reminiscent of Kataklysm at all is Iacono’s vocals at times and the guitar tone.

“Romulus” germinates this album with epic keys similar to that in a movie as the song slowly pounds it way into battle. Keys play a big part in the music but they are only used to thicken atmosphere. Most of the accents are horn or chant sounds. Samples can be heard as well. A lot of what is going on within the atmosphere of Romulus is similar to that of Nile or Behemoth with the Egyptian and ancient tones. Harmonized guitars flourish through this album as well as excellent solo work. Just about every tune on this record carries a health solo. Even Karl Sanders (Nile) stops by for a solo on “The Final War (Battle of Actium).”

Vocally, Maurizio has a distinguishable tone with his deep death bellows and shrieking highs, though he has striven to change his delivery by yelling (very clearly) his cries. Obviously, the man knows his history when it comes to the concept because lyrically this is a very interesting album and I imagine it took some time to put this bad boy together. Romulus is like the soundtrack to Gladiator or 300. I must say, I am impressed with the vocals more than anything.

Other guest appearances include Negral (Behemoth) on “Storm the Gates of Alesia” and Obsidian C (Keep of Kalessin) adds another layer of riffs to “Cruor Nostri Abbas.” None of this is noticeable if you weren’t listening for it.

Bottom line- this is a very solid release for fans of doomy, triumphant, melodic death like Amon Amarth and select Kataklysm but also for the fans of “war/battle metal” like Turisas, Thyfing, and Ensiferum. The impressive thing is the atmosphere and quality songwriting. I doubt this will be on anyone’s year end lists but it sure is a great CD worth attention.