In 2005 the quartet, with all members from the current line-up onboard, managed to open the gates to hell and international metal scene with their first full length debut release, entitled ‘Stranded Hate”, and did make some eyebrows raise on the melodeath scene with their unique creation of art. Sadly though, my mailbox never got the pleasure to receive this album, so they have been undiscovered to my ears and eyes until now. Finally, seven years later and they have awoken from their graves armed to the teeth, with the sophomore album ‘Carpe Mortem’, and preparing a full assault on the already flooded melodeath scene today.

The members’ name of the line-up has been updated several times during the bands earlier years, but since 2005 it’s still Özgür Özkan on bass & vocals, Onur Akca on drums and both Maksim Kirikoglu and Feyzi Ocak on lead guitars. Even though it’s 15 years since the band was born, and only one full length release has hit the shelf, these four guys are still playing like seasoned veterans, complementing each other’s musical skills in a perfect symbiosis. With support from Dan Swanö (Arch Enemy, Evergrey, Falconer, Pain and many others) handling the mixing and mastering of their latest effort, it’s in safe hands and should be an instant hit…

From the beginning to the end, it’s a massacre of very heavy, brutal and aggressive guitar riffs with tight blasting drum sounds, tearing apart your ears with perfect execution. The catchy hooks, melodic passages and groovy tunes are shot at your ears like bullets from a machine gun, which almost never miss its target. The band will even return to their own roots, by digging up some oriented Turkish melodies, to make them stand out among the many death metal bands out there today. Still I would have applauded if more than two songs were heavily influenced with such strong oriented Turkish melodies, bringing a breath of fresh air to the metal scene. The vocal performance is almost flawless executed by Özgür, who is capable of bringing the lyrics alive with his deep brutal growl, harsh screams and clean singing style. His pipes have an impressive vocal range, though at times sounding too forced and false in his clean singing parts. But again, his growl is one of the best and compensates for that in my opinion.

I grew up with “In Flames”, “Dark Tranquility” and “Soilwork”, but I have lost my faith in those many years ago. The same fate befell many other melodeath bands, and I have almost grown tired of the flourishing melodic death metal movement, with all the pop/rock bands poisoning its “vein of gold”. These four guys from Istanbul have awoken my interest again, and I’m grateful for that.

Maybe they latest contribution to the world of metal is not so innovative, still they manage to seduce my pureblooded metal heart with their honest, “straightforward” sound, spiced up with some haunting oriented Turkish tunes, and a front man that can growl fear into the devil himself. If melodic death metal is your kind of thing, then don’t let this release slip through your fingers.