Hailing from Aachen, Germany, Ius Talionis were formed in 2013. What I have in my hands is their debut four track demo Eleutheromania. The band presents its product as “harsh black metal with melodic outbreaks”; the genre of the band combines definitely harshness and melody, I would say a Teutonic, powerful and granitic black metal. A good example is the first song “Irrlicht” (‘Misleading Light’), long, powerful, gloomy; this song is about the ambiguity darkness / light. Things change in “Das Antlitz des Krieges” (‘The Face of War’), about war; the tempo speeds up, thus reflecting the inevitability of the fate of a soldier. This song contains the first real, beautiful, outbreak of melody, and a slightly dissonant guitar solo. Im Angesicht des Todes (‘In the face of death’) is based on recurring mid-tempos and melodies in tremolo, I think slightly in the mood of a great German band, Imperium Dekadenz. The demo closes circularly, as it began, with another slow and powerful song, the title track “Eleutheromania”. The production is perhaps a little homemade and especially the mix does not seem perfect; the voice is too prominent, you've got it in your face. On the other hand the sound of the German language is harsh and beautiful at the same time. The structures and the patterns of the individual songs are a bit too repetitive, which does not make the songs very catchy. The good point of this demo is that it does not seem to be made superficially; on the contrary, it sounds well thought out, so that Ius Talionis, far from being innovative, have a style of their own.
I have already said something about the lyrics while describing the demo. I always appreciate the bands that have something to say at the level of concepts, and it seems that Ius Talionis take a great deal of care of text-writing. All songs are in German; the title track “Eleutheromania”, which means “Desire or Mania of Freedom’ (eleuthero- comes from ancient Greek eleutheria, ‘freedom’) lucubrates on modern society’s being slave to religion; significant the first two verses: “Schwer lasten die Ketten die euch anbinden, / eisern, fest und unnachgiebig, fesseln sie euch an die Welt” (‘Heavy loads, the chains that bind you, made of iron, hard and inflexible, they tie you to the world’).
In a nutshell, Eleutheromania is a well thought out debut demo characterized by a personal style; but if I were in the band’s shoes, on the occasion of the next release, if any of course, I would re-record these songs with better sounds.
Notes:
“Ius Talionis” translates to ‘Right of Retaliation’ in Latin. Realease date of Eleutheromania: September 6 2014, independent.
I have already said something about the lyrics while describing the demo. I always appreciate the bands that have something to say at the level of concepts, and it seems that Ius Talionis take a great deal of care of text-writing. All songs are in German; the title track “Eleutheromania”, which means “Desire or Mania of Freedom’ (eleuthero- comes from ancient Greek eleutheria, ‘freedom’) lucubrates on modern society’s being slave to religion; significant the first two verses: “Schwer lasten die Ketten die euch anbinden, / eisern, fest und unnachgiebig, fesseln sie euch an die Welt” (‘Heavy loads, the chains that bind you, made of iron, hard and inflexible, they tie you to the world’).
In a nutshell, Eleutheromania is a well thought out debut demo characterized by a personal style; but if I were in the band’s shoes, on the occasion of the next release, if any of course, I would re-record these songs with better sounds.
Notes:
“Ius Talionis” translates to ‘Right of Retaliation’ in Latin. Realease date of Eleutheromania: September 6 2014, independent.
| Tracklist: 1. Irrlicht 2. Das Antlitz des Krieges 3. Im Angesicht des Todes 4. Eleutheromania Personnel: Nár: Bass Ryu: Drums Viator Noctis: Guitars Eremos: Guitars Koshmar: Vocals Text by Herjann herjann@unholyblackmetal.com | 14:16 05:18 06:38 10:33 36:45 |