Voice Of The Soul’s “Catacombs” was digitally released in UAE on September 28th 2014, we at LebMetal have previously posted a review of the album (check Eddy Hanna’s review) but the following is a pre-release review for the official album release in Europe via Hells Hammer and India via Transcending Obscurity on March 27th 2015. Expected to be among the best Middle Eastern releases of 2015, “Catacombs” is pretty impressive to say the least.
I always receive lots of album review requests and we at Lebmetal.com do not review all albums so we could have more articles and satisfy the bands, we review what we think is worth a review. When I receive an album, I give it a first listen while working and if I notice something interesting, I give it another detailed full listen. Few albums made me put work aside and quickly set up the best listening experience, but “Catacombs” is one of those albums and I am confident that it’ll have that effect on many people, the effect of “Hey! give me all your attention, indulge!”
The album incorporates several genres like Symphonic metal, Death Metal, Gothic Metal, Prog and Djent – it keeps going, keeps blasting.
Briefly, “Desolation” is the short album intro track and before you press play, the melody is already playing in your head and you know the mood you are stepping into; this intro is simply “Dark”. Next is “Perpetual Deception” blasting with double drum beat and a heavy riff, you know, seconds later, Death vocals joins with keyboard in the background and a constant progression change.
“Pendulum” is next, quite a heavy/heavier short track with a faster beat and several well arranged guitar layers. Number 4 on the album “Quarantine” seems way more melodic and puts the Bass in front of all instruments, then adds Symphonic keys for tha epic feel, to jump back to heavy guitar riffs, and ends with a calm clean guitar outro. “Cold Rupture” ended up being one of my favorite tracks on the album, this is “Doom” with a great melody, a beautiful track. I ended up humming this day after day (This should be sang by Saturnus’ Thomas A.G. Jensen – I wish he was featured on it). Things calm down in “The Mist”, it’s a string key track after the ship gets to shore, makes you would wonder, “Where have we landed ?”. You have landed in “Perdition”, the shores of death, expect this to be music of death, pain and punishment! This track builds on some quite interesting drum lines, the heaviest of riffs and the voice of Daemons.
Number 8 is “Defiled”, which sounds totally Thrash/Death! Here again the Bass is in front which gives the track a different feel. I think the mixing of this album is a smart move; it gives the instruments enough light and never leaves any too much in front. I should also mention that tracks which include guitar solos set the perfect timing for them and lets the solos completely fuse with the track. Closing track is “Images Subside”, another heavy doom/death track that is supposed to crush your brain, here we have the clean vocals sounding like Mastodon and putting this track in a different style, but nevertheless, feels like a solid part of the album.
If you are looking for a well produced album with good written music and something that’ll automatically find its way back to your playlist, give this album a listen and chances are you’ll enjoy it. Voice of the Soul have done a great work, definitely beyond expectations with this great debut album.
