Ex Deo
The Immortal Wars
(Napalm Records)
If you happen to be a fan of the death metal act Kataklysm, and have wanted more from them lately, you are now in luck. Ex Deo is the band’s side project, including François Mongrain on guitar and Jonathan Leduc on keys. The band’s third album, The Immortal Wars, is ripe with battles, blood, and glory! What transpires is a symphonic and melodic treat that carries the spirit of the warrior.
Thematically the record centers around the idea of battles within ancient Rome. To play off this instrumentally, the band uses orchestral elements that either underline the heavier driven sections, or take over as the focus. Immediately there are similarities to such acts as Fleshgod Apocalypse that come to mind when these aspects are in use, but luckily the band holds to its own identity. This is through having the guitar and drums amplify these ideas, rather than going balls to the wall with slamming away. The instrumentals do a superb job of adding excitement and adding suspense.
“The Rise of Hannibal” is a prime example of what the record has instore for listeners. The brightness in guitars makes for a contrast against the war marching pattern in drumming. The vocals have a rich deepness to them that also aide that war-like pride. Throughout all the songs there is terrific use of sonic melodies and blazing rhythms. The orchestral elements come in the form of vocal chanting, horns, and keys, appearing in songs like “Suavetaurilia (Intermezzo)”. These moments are exciting and add flare to the album.
That flare is essential to The Immortal Wars in keeping it from staling out. While it is not a major compliant, some of the songs tend to suffer from a diversity in pacing. There are a portion of songs that, while they have moments where speed may slow down or pick up, they overall maintain a consistent energy. Take two tracks like “Crossing of the Alps” and “Ad Victoriam (The Battle of Zama)”: while both have different sounds at play, they structurally keep the same ideas moving forward. This doesn’t become the sort of issue where “two songs sound too similar”, but more of the “wish they would switch it up a bit” variety.
Luckily this is not the album as a whole, and there are interesting (yet small parts) that aide in mixing with structure. “The Roman” has a terrific little part to it where the guitar shreds away into a sonic flurry, and “Hispania (Siege of Saguntum) flips back and forth with speed. These moments make for fun tracks that get the blood pumping at frequent highs. It would have been great to get more moments like this throughout the album.
The Immortal Wars is a good time for head banging and to make pits go wild. Ex Deo takes bits of Kataklysm to create a new form and grow it into something purely fun. While the album has some pacing issues, in the end The Immortal Wars will have fans roaring and marching along.
